Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador was one of 26 Republicans to vote against extending some provisions in the Patriot Act, which extends the surveillance power of the national government. An effort Tuesday to extend some portions of the act failed because it didn’t garner two-thirds support in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Labrador has been in Congress just over a month, and his vote is one of his first significant breaks from the Republican majority in the U.S. House. The vote is just one step, and doesn’t mean that the extensions to the Patriot Act are dead.

“While I agree that law enforcement and national security agencies need the tools necessary to keep America safe from terrorism, when crafting policy we need to be sure we are not infringing upon the protections and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution,” Labrador said in a prepared statement.

One of Labrador’s predecessors representing Idaho’s 1st Congressional District, Gov. Butch Otter, was one of three Republicans in the House to oppose the Patriot Act when it was created in 2003.

The plan in the House would extend three parts of the Patriot Act set to expire at the end of February until the end of 2011. Those sections of the act help law enforcement perform roving wiretaps on targets, follow “lone wolf” terrorists, and get access to business records.

Idaho Rep. Mike Simpsons supports the extension, because it would give Congress more time to hold hearings on the plan. “I voted to temporarily extend these provisions so that Congress could take up the oversight work that’s necessary to ensure that the law not only provides the tools our law enforcement needs to protect the lives of American citizens, but also prevents abuse that would threaten individual rights,” Simpson said in a prepared statement.

The sponsor of the plan, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the provisions helped protect national security. “These three provisions have helped thwart countless potential attacks since the bill was signed into law and are critical to helping ensure law officials can keep our nation safe from attack,” he said in a news release.

The House vote was 277-148 to suspend the rules to allow the plan to move forward, which was 13 votes short of the needed two-thirds majority. The extensions to the Patriot Act could still move forward under regular House rules.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Idaho First District Congressman Raúl R. Labrador issued the following statement on President Obama’s FY2012 budget, which was delivered today to Congress.
“Apparently the voice of the American people is falling on deaf ears in the White House. President Obama’s proposed budget for the fiscal year 2012 is not acceptable to me, it isn’t acceptable to the American people and it will not be acceptable to Congress. While his budget does contain reductions, I feel they amount to little more than window dressing and are not a serious attempt to restore fiscal sanity to the federal government.
While the president has submitted his 2012 budget, this week House Republicans are proposing $100 billion in cuts in federal spending for the remainder of this year. Republicans have put forth excellent proposals that include meaningful reductions that most importantly shrink the size of government. I will be making proposals for additional cuts that I feel are important to both the people of Idaho and America as a whole.
Americans are already taxed to the limits of their endurance and new taxes, penalties and fees are unacceptable, the only solution is to reduce the size of government to levels that fit the revenues of the nation – much like American families must live within our means.
Reduction in the size of government will reduce the burden of job-stifling, job-destroying red tape that goes hand-in-hand with bloated federal agencies in search of pointless missions of self-perpetuation at the expense of job-creating American businesses.
While the president’s budget and lack of leadership are a disappointment, I am heartily encouraged by the determination of Republicans in both the House and the Senate who understand that America is at a crossroads and are choosing the right route for the future of our nation.”

PAKISTAN — Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador has gotten involved in the case of an American diplomat being held on murder charges in Pakistan.
“If we weren’t in the middle of this crisis in Egypt, I think this would be what people were talking about right now,” said Labrador.
Raymond Davis is accused of shooting and killing two Pakistani men, who U.S. officials say were attempting to rob him. But Labrador says some Pakistani officials are claiming that it was cold-blooded murder.
Just to clarify, Davis is not from Idaho that we know of. Labrador became involved in this issue because he said he found himself in Pakistan just a day or so after the shooting. The original goal of his delegation’s trip was to investigate use of government funds in the Middle East. But once Davis was jailed, Labrador said this case became a priority.
“It was a sad event,” he said. “(Davis) was just driving down the road in Pakistan, and two gunmen got off a motorcycle and one of them pointed a gun at him. He was carrying a gun, because he was part of the security detail out there, and he shot them both dead.”
A third Pakistani was crushed to death by a consulate car that went to the scene to aid Davis. Davis was arrested and on Thursday a court extended his detention for eight days while police investigated the shooting.
“There’s evidence that these gentlemen had just held up another car just down the street,” Labrador said. “Some of the Pakistani leaders… They’re trying to say that this was a cold-blooded murder, and there’s no evidence that it was a cold-blooded murder.”
Protesters have gathered outside the consulate chanting anti-U.S. slogans and waving posters reading ‘Hang Raymond.’
“That’s not why we went to Pakistan,” said Labrador. “But every time we met with a government official, our delegation was asking them to please release him, because he’s got diplomatic immunity.”
A Pakistani judge disagrees, saying the court will decide whether Davis receives diplomatic immunity. They will not hand him over to U.S. custody yet either.
“This could become a major international dispute between our two countries, which could then diminish the help that we give to Pakistan,” said Labrador. “That was the message I gave to all the people that I talked to. All the people in my district are not going to be very content that you guys are holding one of our diplomats, as we’re spending billions of dollars in your country. So, we’ll see what happens.”
The U.S. State Department has also asked for Davis’s release. Spokesman Philip Crowley said that Davis had every reason to believe that the armed men meant him bodily harm.

Justin Corr, KTVB-TV

BOISE — Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador got back Friday night from a trip to the Middle East, and he has questions about how your money is being spent in the area.
Labrador was a part of a bipartisan Congressional Delegation of six lawmakers who spent about a week in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. He was chosen partly because of his position on on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“Just to see the conditions that are there. It was sobering,” said Labrador.
The United States is spending billions of dollars in the Middle East to fund the U.S. military, but also to fund contractors who are helping build infrastructure. The delegation Labrador was a part of, led by Representative Darrell Issa from California, wanted to make sure that money was being spent efficiently. Their initial findings were that not all of it is.
“There’s a lot of money being spent in Afghanistan right now,” Labrador said. “It’s $120 billion a year.”
The first two-day stop for Labrador’s delegation was Afghanistan. Like they did everywhere, Labrador had detailed conversations with the U.S. government’s inspector generals in charge of spending.
“We have to make sure that the money that is being spent, is being spent correctly,” Labrador said.

Labrador’s next visit was Pakistan. He said the U.S. is trying to build up the Pakistan military to handle issues in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but the anti-American sentiment and the social unrest in surrounding countries isn’t helping.
“The problem is, there’s a lot of distrust,” Labrador said. “The Pakistani people don’t like the American people. It’s pretty precarious right now. They’re trying to show that they’re independent from the United States, and they’re not accepting some of the help that we’re offering. It’s kind of a dance that we’re going through right now.”
The delegation’s final stop was in Iraq, where Labrador met with President Jalal Talabani. Soldiers also talked about the improving conditions.
“Iraq was the best part of the trip, for a lot of reasons,” said Labrador. “But the number one reason is that I was able to meet with members of the 116th Brigade. I was so heartened by the work that they were doing.”
Labrador said overall, he was very impressed with our fighting men and women. But he still had serious concerns about many agencies, and how money was being spent.
“We had too much money that was handed out to the locals without any reports coming back,” said Labrador. “When we were asking some of the agencies how much money had been spent, they knew how much money had been spent. But when you asked them, ‘What did you get from that money?’, many of them couldn’t tell you. We’re going to have some hearings on the way money is being spent, and we’re going to be subpoenaing quite a few people. Hopefully, we don’t have to subpoena anybody, hopefully they come willingly.”
Labrador said we’ll see the first hearings in the next few months.
Labrador was also scheduled to make a stop in Egypt, but that was canceled, because of the unrest there.

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What a tremendous victory we achieved last night; thanks to YOU!

Becca and I always believed we could win, because of YOU!

YOUR faith in our campaign was a daily boost for us and we are so grateful to all of you for your never ending support.

The strength of our victory meant only one thing—the majority of voters clearly understood what our country needed—Republican leadership and Idahoan values.

To everyone who helped us make the 200,000 phone calls, who volunteered to knock on thousands of doors, who wrote countless letters to the editor, who put up yard signs, and who held spectacular events for us, who donated to us, who BELIEVED in us, thank you so much.

It is time for us to take our message to Washington. There is so much work to do and our victory is only the first, smallest step in helping to restore sanity to our federal government.

Our children and grandchildren are counting on us.

I will need your continued support in the days, weeks and months to come.

I will need you to stay in touch with our offices. Let us know what you think, always.

Your thoughts, opinions and views are important to me.

But so are your prayers. Please keep the work we must do in Congress in your thoughts and prayers in the days to come.

Words cannot express how grateful we are for your support. For the faith you have in me.

I will not let you down.

Raul

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Supports Raul Labrador

I would absolutely vote for making the Bush tax cuts permanent—this is essential to the recovery of the American economy!  I am disgusted that the current Democrat controlled Congress adjourned before addressing this issue by voting, despite their sudden claims of support for all or part of the Bush tax cuts.  It is yet more proof that the leadership of Congress must pass to the Republican Party.

To be clear, I am for making all of the tax cuts permanent.  It is not right to create special classes of taxpayers while exempting others.  The richest Americans already shoulder the burden of paying the most taxes in our country.  The wealthiest Americans at the same time make the most investments in both old and new businesses.  These are the businesses that create jobs and in turn allow small businesses to flourish.

Keeping taxes low is a key part of my campaign platform.  So then the question actually becomes, how do we pay for these in the fiscally responsible manner?  This is another key element of my candidacy.  We have to bring the economics of the kitchen back to the federal government.  Congress must behave as we are all forced to do in our own homes.  You cannot spend more than you earn.  This means we will need to cut spending.

My proposal for cutting spending seems simple, but due to the radical spending agenda of the Pelosi/Obama administration it will require effort.  I want to reduce spending by the federal government back to the levels of 2008, before the spending madness truly began.

This is not going to be an easy thing to accomplish, but we must have a rational discussion as Americans as to what we can afford and what we ought to be spending our limited resources on.  America is a great nation with limitless opportunities, but we must be reasonable and understand we cannot continue to spend money for things we cannot afford.

As it stands now quite a bit of the federal budget is reserved in so-called dedicated funding.  While a great deal of this spending is important, we cannot continue to operate with a belief that everything is sacred.  It is simply no longer possible for us to avoid the difficult decisions that this and previous Congressional sessions have for too long.

When I am elected to Congress I will be part of the new true conservative Republican majority that will put into place policies that will eventually produce the economic growth.  These policies will increase the tax base without raising taxes while we pursue a more limited spending agenda that ultimately leads to a balanced budget.