OPINION: As GOP takes control, Idaho’s Crapo poised to head Finance

In the 40 years that I have known Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, he has never bragged about his having great power or influence — even when he was in high-level political positions.

Crapo has the reputation of a workhorse. He’s more comfortable diving into the minutia of complicated tax legislation, as opposed to being a star attraction at a MAGA rally. He gladly leaves it to others to be the “talking heads” on Sunday network news shows.

Basically, he’s the same guy I interviewed some 40 years ago — the young Idaho Falls lawyer and state senator who talked about how he might like to serve in Congress one day. That day came when he won the 2nd District House seat in 1992, then moved to the Senate in 1999 — facing little more than token opposition along the way.

The senator is 73 years old, an age when politicians, and other folks, start thinking about winding down their careers, if they haven’t done so. But there will be no “slowing down” with President-elect Donald Trump moving into the White House and Republicans winning both chambers of Congress. Crapo, the fourth longest-serving Republican in the Senate, is entering the peak of his political career — and the height of power and influence.

In January, he takes over as chairperson of the Senate Finance Committee, the first Republican chairperson in 24 years not named Orin Hatch or Chuck Grassley. Crapo chaired the Senate’s banking committee during Trump’s first term as president, but there’s more meat that goes with finance. Crapo, the committee’s ranking member for the last four years, welcomes the challenge.

“I think the finance committee has the broadest jurisdiction of any committee in Congress,” he told me.

The committee presides over federal tax policy, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the implementation and enforcement of trade agreements. It’s all mind-numbing, detailed stuff on which Crapo thrives.

One of the committee battles will be the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Republicans passed through in 2017 and part of it is scheduled to expire at the end of next year. The task may be easier with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress. That means Republicans can pass some select bills through the Senate by simple majority, opposed to the normal two-thirds vote. The tax-cut bill is a prime candidate for “reconciliation.”

Democratic critics say that the tax cuts caused the deficit to skyrocket while benefiting billionaires. Crapo rejects those arguments.

“That’s what was said in 2017, and those arguments are false,” Crapo said. “If it’s allowed to expire, it would be a $4 trillion tax increase on Americans. The Biden administration says that it benefits mostly big business. But $2 trillion is for those who make under $400,000 and multiple hundreds of billions are for small businesses and other entities.”

And, he says, if taxes go up, then so do consumer costs.

“It’s not going to increase the deficit, even though the joint tax committee scores it that way. The committee does not take into account the growth in the economy that will occur with a pro-growth tax policy,” Crapo said.

There will be other high-profile issues before the committee, including Trump’s plan to raise tariffs. Republicans who don’t like Obamacare will have a chance to put their stamp on health insurance and prescription drugs.

“If we get those right, it will be a repeat of Trump’s first presidency when we had the strongest economy of our lifetimes,” Crapo says. “Jobs, benefits, wages, unemployment and almost everything were at positive record levels.”

On the flip side, getting those issues “wrong” could produce much different election results two years from now in the mid-term elections. So, there is pressure and responsibility that goes with Crapo’s new job. The finance committee could serve as a springboard for Trump’s policies as well as a measure of the Republican Party’s ability to effectively govern.

Along the way, there will be plenty of drama — as seen with some of his early cabinet picks (Crapo has given a friendly nod to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services). Democrats who are reeling from their crushing election losses will be vocal with their opposition. It will be a rocky four years, to say the least.

Up to now, Crapo has managed to maintain a relatively low profile. We’ll see how long that continues, considering the burning issues that will come before his committee.

Malloy is a veteran Idaho columnist. He may be contacted at ctmalloy@outlook.com.