Crapo answers questions from anxious constituents

Sen. Mike Crapo said Tuesday that he trusts President Donald Trump’s pledge not to cut social security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits even as his administration, congressional Republicans and the Department of Government Efficiency seek to slash federal spending and reduce the size of government.

The senior senator from Idaho participated in an AARP telephone town hall meeting Tuesday and fielded questions from Idahoans anxious about the future of federal entitlement programs, moves by Trump and DOGE to cut things like health research funding, dismantling the Department of Education mass firing of federal employees.

The Republican, who has been in Congress since 1992, said he is committed to extending the 2017 tax cuts approved during Trump’s first term in office and called the first two months of Trump’s second term “quite incredible.”

“The president has been very clear on one of his top priorities, which I share as chairman of this Finance Committee, and that is extending the 2017 tax cuts. These tax cuts are attacked as being tax cuts for the wealthy and for billionaires; the reality is that they were a tax cut for everyone in America,” Crapo said in his opening remarks.

Some political observers, including Democrats, don’t believe the tax cuts can be extended without either adding significantly to the federal deficit or by making deep cuts to programs. Several people asked Crapo about the potential cuts and what he would do to defend popular programs.

“I back exactly what President Trump has said, and that is that he doesn’t support, and I don’t support, any cuts to benefits in Medicare or Medicaid or Social Security,” he said. “Now, having said that, I know there are some savings that can be found from what are considered to be excessive expenditures that do not impact benefits, and there are some who are saying that in the categories of waste, fraud and abuse, there may be some savings that can be achieved.” Earlier in the day, Frank Bisignano, Trump’s nominee to head the Social Security Administration sat for questions during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Crapo said he was impressed and believes Bisignano will improve service at the agency.

“What he said was he wants to make it easy and accessible for everybody in the Social Security system to contact the Social Security Administration in the way they want to do it, whether it’s in person at an office, whether it’s on the telephone, whether it’s by email or text or whatever other way that they want to communicate,” Crapo said.

He said the administration has backed off of its intention to close Social Security offices but did not specifically address the future of the Lewiston office that briefly appeared on a now rescinded list of federal properties that could be declared surplus and sold.

A news release from the Social Security Administration last week said in an effort to prevent fraud, people seeking benefits or those making changes to their direct deposit accounts will no longer be able to do so by phone and instead will have to visit an office.

Crapo downplayed Elon Musk’s power to make cuts to Social Security or to other federal departments. The world’s richest man donated more than $500 million to Trump’s campaign and was put in charge of DOGE. He has boasted of moves like neutering the U.S. Agency of International Development and called Social Security the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme.

“With regard to Elon Musk, you know, there was some concern early on that there were actions being taken that were more appropriately actions that should be taken by either Congress or by the newly confirmed secretaries of different departments, rather than the DOGE activities. President Trump has corrected that, and right now, the DOGE activities are advisory. They still are going on, but they are advisory.”

Multiple people asked the senator how the mass firings of probationary employees might affect services at the agencies such as the Veterans Administration or tax collection by the Internal Revenue Service. Crapo said the IRS was “super-sized” during the Biden administration and he supports returning it to its former size.

Crapo said the firings have and will cause disruptions throughout the government.

“I believe that when so many probationary employees were essentially fired or taken off the employment roles, that a lot of unintended consequences occurred there,” he said. “I think we are in a position now where we need to go back and make sure that we address those unintended consequences, and I assure you that I will seek to do so.”

The people asking questions were mostly polite — a stark contrast to in-person town hall meetings across the country where constituents unnerved by Trump’s and Musk’s sweeping moves have peppered members of Congress with angry questions. The telephone meeting prevented the audience from reacting with cheers or boos and largely didn’t provide for a sustained back and forth between Crapo and constituents.

But a man from Ketchum said it has been 36 months since Crapo’s last town hall and commended the AARP for “dragging him out of the shadows and letting folks ask questions,” before asking the senator how he would protect the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in the face of federal job loses.

Crapo defended himself by saying “I have not been in the shadows. I’ve been very open and accessible to my constituents all the time,” and said he would look into potential problems at the central Idaho recreation area.

“Bottom line is, we are dealing with personnel issues across the government right now, and as I’ve said, with regard to the number of other questions that were asked, I’m not sure I agree that every personnel decision that has been made in the last little while was appropriate.”

Barker may be contacted at [email protected].