Crapo is fibbing about exploding the debt. Here are some questions | Opinion

He’s at it again.

Sen. Mike Crapo rails against the national debt at the top of his website, showing how it is adding up. He’s loud in his warnings about the national debt when Democrats are in power, but he’s muted when Republicans like President Donald Trump are in power. Then you will hear nary a word about the debt.

That’s because he’s been hard at work as chair of the Senate Finance Committee writing and defending Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” as though it’s manna from heaven. When, in fact, it adds trillions to the national debt over the next 10 years — and that’s according to the conservative Cato Institute.

When the federal government spends more than it raises, a deficit is created, and the government borrows with interest payments it must pay off in future years. Back to Crapo’s tally of the federal debt, it is nothing more than the accumulation of deficits like the huge one created by Trump and Crapo’s “big, beautiful bill.”

According to the Cato Institute, most modelers estimated the bill’s cost at $3 trillion to $4 trillion. A more recent CATO analysis predicts the costs of the bill could “soar past $6 trillion.” CATO also criticizes four new tax carve-outs it claims will benefit special interest groups that are “poorly targeted, fiscally costly, and economically unjustified.”

As unpopular as the bill is, there was Crapo front and center at the bill’s signing, smiling proudly as Trump signed it. There were the deficit twins handing out tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, like they were throwing candy at a parade, extolling what they claimed to be the virtues of the bill — while all but ignoring provisions slipped in by special interests.

The next time you see Crapo on one of his carefully planned Idaho visits to avoid any truth-telling constituents who might embarrass him as he spins his fantasy version of the bill, here’s some questions you might want to ask him about his and Trump’s fiscal disaster:

Sen. Crapo, could you give us your thoughts on why the bill needed to include $75 billion, tripling ICE’s previous annual budget and making it the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government, according to The New York Times. It included $30 billion for immigration enforcement through 2029, which allows for the hiring of 10,000 additional ICE agents who will be turned loose on the streets of America.

Masked ICE agents already hide their identity. Do you not understand the concern folks have about this turning our country into a police state that could be used against law-abiding citizens in the future? A recent comment by one agent that “liberals already ruined the country” give pause as to where this is headed.

Do you not see how creating the largest police force in America reinforces the police state Trump is creating to cleanse America of brown people who work in jobs most Americans won’t touch?

Sen. Crapo, why in God’s name did you include a provision removing the tax on gun silencers? Do mass shooters who purchase silencers really need any more encouragement to shoot down schoolchildren with a silencer, thereby preventing any warning to others in the school building?

Sen. Crapo, given the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, how can the federal government justify a $40 million appropriation to build a “Garden of Heroes” in Washington, D.C.? Given Trump’s recent efforts to rewrite the history portrayed in the Smithsonian Institution, do you care to guess what sinister characters of past and present might find their way into such a garden?

Sen. Crapo, in a state that hardly matches California, New York, Florida and others with large numbers of wealthy constituents, how can you justify making permanent the 2017 tax cuts for America’s most wealthy citizens when the bill will result in so many Idahoans paying more for their medical care, if they can even obtain it?

Sen. Crapo, why remove tax incentives for wind, solar and other renewable energy projects, many of which are in Idaho? It also ends subsidies of up to $7,500 for electronic vehicles purchased this year by your constituents. These slashes in clean energy are more about Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the horrendous consequences of climate change and how to address it. Do you really have to play Trump’s game of science denial when it works against your own constituents? Just what do you stand for as a senator representing Idaho?

Sen. Crapo, since this bill drastically cuts spending in safety-net services for those who need them, why such a craven move to defer such cuts until after the midterms? Is it because you know how devastating cuts to SNAP, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will be, causing voters to abandon Republican candidates in the midterms? Is that the kind of credibility and honesty Idahoans are known for?

Sen. Crapo, in Idaho, where residents are proud of their national forests, why would you allow a 25% expansion of logging in national forests, bypassing environmental reviews and fast-tracking timber production? And why open more of our public lands to drilling, mining and logging with royalty breaks for fossil fuel companies? How is that the Idaho way?

Sen. Crapo, how do you justify cuts in regulations in federal agencies that protect health, safety, and clean air and water? In drafting the bill, you showed little concern for your constituents while prioritizing those big, beautiful campaign contributions.

Sen. Crapo, have you thought about another line of work that might not penalize Idahoans as this latest effort of yours will? Maybe one of those cushy Wall Street jobs where you can line your pockets, but not at the direct expense of Idahoans?

Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radio, a regular columnist for the Idaho Statesman and a contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.