Idaho’s junior congressman, Rep. Raul Labrador, has a different message for the 12-member panel: leave out the tax hikes and consider everything else.

Labrador, a first-term Republican representative from Eagle, told IdahoReporter.com Wednesday he is unwilling to vote for any deal that involves tax hikes of any kind. “We have too much taxing, we have too much spending, and we have too much regulation,” Labrador said. “If we want to get out of this mess, we need to get the government out of the lives of individuals and businesses.”

If panel members want to alter the tax situation, Labrador suggested they look for a fairer and flatter tax system that would increase the number of payers.

In the end, though, he said he just couldn’t vote for increase in tax rates. “The only deal-breaker for me is a tax hike,” Labrador explained. “Everything else is on the table.”

That message is at odds with what Simpson wrote in his Nov. 2 letter to the committee. “To succeed, all options for mandatory and discretionary spending and revenues must be on the table,” he wrote the super committee. “In addition, we know from other bipartisan frameworks that a target of some $4 trillion in deficit reduction is necessary to stabilize our debt as a share of the economy and assure America’s fiscal well-being.”

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, initially part of the Gang of Six senators dedicated to deficit reduction, released his own recommendation to the super committee in September. In his message, Crapo, along with 33 other senators, urged the super committee to cut as much as $4 trillion through a 10-year span.

Crapo didn’t give specifics on tax hikes or spending cuts, however.

Members of the committee have until Nov. 23 to find at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction measures, but it appears they are struggling to find common ground. Earlier this week, Republican members proposed a package with $300 billion in tax hikes, but Democrats balked at the deal, saying that the amount was just not enough.

If lawmakers don’t meet the deadline, they can extend it with a majority vote. If that fails and the committee has not met the Nov. 23 goal, automatic cuts to defense and welfare programs will kick in.

If the panel is able to meet its deadline, the bill would be filibuster-proof in the U.S. Senate and no amendments would be allowed in either chamber of Congress.

The U.S. Senate approved the plan Tuesday, with both Idaho Sens., Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, in support.   Crapo called it the first step in lowering the nation’s obligation to creditors.

The legislation would let the nation’s debt ceiling increase by $2.4 trillion above its current $14.3 trillion level.  It also includes close to $1 trillion in spending cuts during the next decade and creates a panel of 12 members of Congress, split between the House and Senate and Republicans and Democrats, to come up with another $1.5 trillion in reductions to the debt.  If the panel can’t agree on cuts by mid January, it would trigger comparable cuts, much of which would come from military budgets, and require Congress to take up a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

By approving a plan, Congress allows the government to continue borrowing, which thwarts a bevy of negative effects, including putting off payments to some, such as people on Social Security and a potential downgrading of its AAA credit rating.

“I think inflation would start going up, unemployment would go up, the cost of doing business would increase dramatically,” Crapo told IdahoReporter.com.  “Frankly [it’s] a dampening of the economy that’d be very harmful to the economy and very harmful to Idaho.”

Crapo called the plan that passed the House a good first step, though much of the hard work on reining in debt remains.

The House approved the plan on a 269-167 vote.  Simpson and most Republicans approved the plan, though Labrador and 65 other House GOPs voted no.

“I could have chosen any number of reasons to oppose the bill, but in the end it puts us on a path to fixing our debt crisis and boosts our economy by preventing the possibility of a default and ensuring Social Security checks, active military paychecks and veterans benefits go out on time,” Simpson said in a news release.  “It does all this without raising taxes.”

The congressional panel isn’t barred from suggesting tax increases, though Crapo also said it’s unlikely Republicans on the panel would approve straight tax hikes.  Crapo served on a similar panel formed by President Barack Obama last year, though it couldn’t agree on a debt reduction plan.

Labrador opposed the plan, saying more changes needed to be made to what he called a fiscal mess in Washington, D.C.

“While this legislation is a good first step towards that goal, it also relies on the time honored Washington tradition of delegating problems to commissions instead of solving them ourselves,” Labrador said in a statement.  “It places more confidence in its ‘super commission’ than is warranted. The legislation also lacks a rock solid commitment to passage of a balanced budget amendment, which I believe is necessary to saving our nation.”

The Senate approved the plan on a 74-26 vote.  Shortly after its passage, Obama said he’d sign it.

“We are making actual cuts to government spending, putting spending controls in place and providing for a vote on a balanced budget amendment without raising taxes,” Risch said in a statement Tuesday.  ”While it is a step in the right direction, it is only a first step in slowing the federal spending that is harming our economy.”

There are some concerns the cuts aren’t large enough to stave off a downgrade in credit ratings.  Earlier plans that couldn’t pass the Senate included trillions more in debt reduction.

Crapo said a downgrade would add to the cost of borrowing, but it wouldn’t be immediate.  “I think there may be a willingness of the world markets to wait and watch whether this committee comes up with real reforms,” he said.  “We may get a breathing space here, but we still need to far more than this immediate debt ceiling solution.”

Idaho Reps. Mike Simpson and Raul Labrador were part of the majority that narrowly passed a plan to extend the debt ceiling plan backed by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.  That plan was later killed in the Senate.

The plan would allow the government to borrow $900 billion in the next few months to pay its bills and requires a larger amount in cuts during the next decade.  No House Democrats supported Boehner’s plan in the House.

The House vote was close, 218-210, and it may not have passed without  the late addition of requiring a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That requirement had been in the House’s previous “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan that passed the House but died in the Senate.

Rep. Raul Labrador

or took some credit for including the balanced budget requirement, saying in a news release that he was part of negotiating talks late on Thursday.

“One of my primary concerns with Speaker Boehner’s bill was its tenuous linkage to a balanced budget amendment,” Labrador said in a statement. “I worked with the speaker to craft an improved balanced budget section to the Budget Control Act, meaning we now have another option to cut spending, cap spending and balance the budget.”

“This bill puts us on a path to solving our debt crisis and boosts our economy by preventing the possibility of a default and ensuring Social Security checks, military active duty paychecks and veterans’ benefits go out on time,” Simpson said in a news release after voting for Boehner’s plan.

Since the Senate rejected Boehner’s plan, it’s unclear what the next plan of action would be in the effort to raise the debt ceiling from its current $14.3 trillion limit.  Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch both supported the stalled “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan, but take issue with a different plan backed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Sen. Jim Risch

“There are concerns about the savings,” Risch’s spokesman, Kyle Hines, told IdahoReporter.com.  “They point out $1.2 trillion in savings that is money from Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s money that wouldn’t have been spent anyway.”

Crapo will vote against Reid’s plan, according to spokesman Lindsay Nothern, in part because of the phantom money that Reid says is being saved.  Crapo was also part of the bipartisan “Gang of 6” senators that put out a debt reduction plan.  It was praised by President Barack Obama but criticized by some conservatives because of the potential elimination of some tax deductions.

Aside from the debt talks, Idaho’s delegation is working on other issues.  Simpson is sponsoring a spending plan for the Department of Interior and environmental programs that is awaiting a full House vote.  That effort has received attention because of the billions in spending reductions as well as potential restrictions, including preventing more animals from being added to the endangered species list.

Simpson, who used an earlier spending plan to get wolves in Idaho and Montana delisted, spoke on the House floor in favor of the limits on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In the Senate, Risch is also looking to curb the EPA and other regulatory agencies.  He’s joining 20 other GOP senators in calling for a ban on new regulations that would affect economic activity until the national unemployment rate drops to 7.7 percent.  The jobless rate is currently above 9 percent, and the target in the GOP plan harkens to the unemployment rate when Obama took office in 2009, according to The Hill.

“Regulations are one of the primary roadblocks to unemployment,” Hines said.  “[Risch] feels that in a time when we need to get Idahoans and Americans back to work, putting the breaks on more regulation is what we need.”  Hines said there hasn’t been talk of Democrats supporting the legislation, so its potential is uncertain.

Sen. Mike Crapo

Also in the Senate this week, Crapo introduced a plan that would let federal education grants pay for dating violence prevention school programs.  The legislation, which is being introduced in the House and has Democratic and Republican sponsors, would also allow the U.S. Department of Education collect data on teen dating violence.

“This bill takes a proactive step in protecting our children from dangerous relationships—and their lifelong consequences,” Crapo said in a news release.

Dating violence, a particular type of domestic violence, has long been a policy concern for Crapo.  He routinely sponsors resolutions in Congress designating a teen dating violence week or month in February.

“A lot of times the federal dollars and federal assistance only go for victims in relationships including marriage and don’t address dating,” Nothern told IdahoReporter.com.  “It’s kind of a quirk in the federal law, but we’ve run into situations over and over again like that.”  Nothern said Crapo is often asked to speak out on the issue since it often doesn’t attract attention from other Republicans in Congress.

Both the House and Senate are expected to meet over the weekend to continue negotiations on the debt ceiling.

“I will only, only vote for an increase in the debt ceiling if we have a balanced budget amendment that passes both houses of Congress,” Labrador said.  The Republican-led U.S. House passed such a plan this week, though the Senate, which has a Democratic majority, halted progress of that plan.  Labrador said that plan, called Cut, Cap and Balance, is his ideal option for raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion from its current $14.3 trillion borrowing limit.  The plan also cuts more than $100 billion in spending immediately and ties future spending levels to economic activity.

Labrador said he and other Republicans are pushing for Congress and President Barack Obama to approve a  good debt ceiling deal, not just any deal.

Debt and spending dominated the discussion at Labrador’s town hall event, with many in the crowd asking for deeper spending cuts, while others wanted to preserve some programs, including Social Security, or raise taxes on the wealthy.  Labrador shot down that last idea.

“I don’t think it’s time to raise taxes on individuals, but I do think it’s time to reform the tax code,” he said.  Labrador said reforms he favors include reducing the number of income tax brackets and rates of those brackets, and closing loopholes that allow large companies to avoid paying taxes.

Those tax code reforms are similar to a debt plan backed by Sen. Mike Crapo and five other senators in the “Gang of Six,” though Labrador said he hasn’t fully reviewed their proposal.  “I look at the ‘Gang of Six’ plan as a way to get to balance (the budget), not as a solution to the debt ceiling increase,” he told IdahoReporter.com after the event.

After the debt ceiling issue is resolved, Labrador said the debate in Congress will turn to the next federal budget, which starts in October.  One of the issues he expects will go on the backburner is one he has experience with, and one that stirred up controversy in his last election: illegal immigration.

“I just can’t imagine that we’re going to have any major legislation,” Labrador said about illegal immigration.  “There’s one bill that I may work on here soon that deals with the high-tech industry.”

Labrador’s vision for immigration reform includes tighter border security, a functioning guest worker program for non-citizens, and an increase in legal immigration for people who come to the U.S. for college.

“Right now, our immigration system is broken,” Labrador said.  He also linked illegal immigration to the nation’s economic problems.  “It is impossible for us to achieve any kind of prosperous system with the immigration system we have.”

Another area of spending Labrador said needs to decrease is in defense.  He criticized Obama’s military efforts in Libya.  “We need to get out of Libya,” he said.  “We also need to make sure we draw down what we do in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

It’s been more than six months since Labrador was sworn into Congress, and he said he’s already changed his views on one issue: term limits for members of Congress.  “I think people stay [in Congress] too long,” he said.  “They start thinking that their job is that they please special interests and many of the people working in the bureaucracy and they’re not so concerned about pleasing their constituents.”

The crowd in Meridian cheered when Labrador announced his switch on term limits.  Labrador has also started to receive more national attention.  He appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” last Sunday, and said he received requests to be on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” and CNN’s “State of the Nation” this Sunday, but declined.  “I needed to come home,” he said.

The House approved a plan calling for budget cuts, capping future spending based on economic activity and adding a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Almost all House Democrats opposed the plan, so it may not fare well with Democrats in charge of the Senate and White House.  Lawmakers and the president have until Aug. 2 to work out a deal on extending the federal debt ceiling, which is the amount of money the government is allowed to borrow.

“House Republicans are committed to bringing spending under control and bringing the size of the federal government back to its historic size following years of growth and bloat,” Simpson said in a news release.  Simpson has backed plans for a balanced budget amendment since he came to Congress.

Rep. Raul Labrador signed a letter last month calling on House GOP leaders to support the “cut, cap and balance” plan.  ”Our great nation did not find itself $14 trillion in debt overnight and it will take many years to correct this problem, but we must start now and we must hold future Congresses accountable regardless of party,” Labrador said in a statement.  ”A cap on spending and a balanced budget amendment will prevent future Congresses from ever returning us to the situation we find ourselves in today.”

During the House debate on the plan, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said it’d change the Constitution and stack the deck in favor of cutting Medicare and Medicaid over closing tax loopholes and raising taxes.

Idaho Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo are co-sponsors of a similar plan introduced in the Senate.  Risch spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday, saying that lawmakers in Congress aren’t doing their job by not passing balanced budgets.

Risch harkened back to his time as Idaho governor, saying that the Gem State and other states can balance their budget, even during difficult times, so the federal government should, as well.

Crapo backs the “cap, cut and balance” plan, but he also backs a $3.7 trillion debt reduction from the “Gang of Six” senators, who have been working for months on a plan to limit spending and reform the tax code.

Sen. Mike Crapo

“The ‘Gang of Six’ takes a different tack,” said Crapo’s spokesman Lindsay Nothern.  “It seeks to encourage economic growth through lowering the tax rates.  At the same time, that economic growth will then help pay down the debt.”

The “Gang of Six” plan would also close some tax loopholes and deductions.  It would set up three income tax brackets — currently there are six — with lower rates.  All the tax changes could result in $1 trillion in new tax revenue.   It would also call for an immediate $500 billion in spending cuts as well as ongoing cuts to health care programs.  It would also raise the Social Security retirement age and link Social Security and Medicare to the rate of inflation.

Shortly after hearing about the plan, the president called it a significant step.  “We’ve got to be serious about reducing discretionary spending both in domestic spending and defense; we’ve got to be serious about tackling health care spending and entitlements in a serious way; and we’ve got to have some additional revenue so that we have an approach in which there is shared sacrifice and everybody is giving up something,” Obama said.

Nothern said he wasn’t surprised by the president’s praise.  “It’s really less about the president and more about what happens in the Senate,” Nothern said.  “It’s somewhat predictable, because the president is not going to support the ‘Cut, Cap and Balance’ plan.  By coming out and supporting this one today, maybe he’s trying to send a message to his [party] that they should get behind this ‘Gang of Six’ plan.”

Officials in the offices of Simpson and Risch said the lawmakers had yet to look at Crapo’s debt reduction plan with the “Gang of Six.”  Labrador’s office did not respond to IdahoReporter.com‘s request for comment.

Rep. Mike Simpson raised $163,716 between April and June and had $229,011 in cash on hand at the end of last month.  That’s more than first-term Rep. Raul Labrador, who raised $93,469 and had $102,616 on hand at the end of June.

Both Simpson and Labrador raised significant sums from outside the state and from political action committees (PACs), which are campaign organizations associated with companies, trade associations or interest groups.  Close to $1 out of every $3 raised by Labrador came from an Idahoan, while only $1 out of every $20 given to Simpson came from an Idahoan.

Simpson campaign staffer Zach Hauge said that while the campaign finance report shows a lot of money coming from outside the state, it represents Idaho interests.  “Many trade organizations and businesses are headquartered outside of Idaho,” he said. “For example, we received a contribution from the REALTOR PAC, while the check is addressed from Chicago, the basis for that support lies with-in the thousands of REALTOR members that reside here in Idaho.”

“There’s like-minded people through the United States who recognize that Congressman Labrador is strong on conservative issues and they want to help out,” said Jake Ball, Labrador’s district director.

Both congressman had several notable contributors.  Each received money from Republican former Sen. Steve Symms, with Simpson also receiving money from Democratic former Rep. Larry LaRocco, who served Idaho for four years in the 1990s.  Labrador also received $5,000 from the owners of the Scentsy candle company, who live in Eagle, and $3,500 from Koch Industries, which donates to many conservative and libertarian causes and is seen as a rival to George Soros, who often donates to liberal organizations.

Rep. Raul Labrador

Several PACs that gave to Labrador has previously given to former Rep. Walt Minnick, who Labrador defeated last year.  Those groups include National Association of Realtors, Farm Credit Council and Honeywell, an aerospace company.

Labrador also received $10,500 from people living in Puerto Rico.  He visited the island where he was born in April to fundraise, meet local officials and visit family, Ball said.

Current and former candidates for the U.S. House with active campaign accounts are required to file quarterly updates with the Federal Election Commission, as well as more frequent updates during election years.  Among other reports filed were $4,030 raised by Norm Semanko, who lost to former Rep. Bill Sali in 2006 and is now the chairman of the Idaho Republican Party.

Semanko told IdahoReporter.com that he’s not building up for another congressional bid, but he’s closed the books on his 2006 race by raising funds to repay $37,500 in loans he made to his own campaign.

“The campaign has completely paid back that loan,” Semanko said.  “It’s kind of nice to put this thing to bed.”  Semanko is running this year to be mayor of Eagle, where he currently sits on the City Council.  That race isn’t subject to FEC reports.

Statewide officeholders and candidates must send campaign finance reports on their activity so far in 2011 to the Idaho secretary of state by the end of the month.  Only Secretary of State Ben Ysursa has turned in a report so far.  He reported no contributions, though he gave Gov. Butch Otter’s campaign a $1,000 gift.

The new, non-emergency money represents an increase of 3.4 percent over the 2011 defense budget. The total defense budget for 2012 sits at $649 billion.  About $530 billion of that amount is non-emergency money, while $119 billion is emergency funding related to the war on terror.

The House approved the budget on a 336-87 vote.

The bill gives soldiers a 1.6 percent pay hike and increases military health spending by about $32 million.

A vote to boost the budget might be seen as out of character for Labrador, who has cast himself as budget hawk during his first seven months in Congress. Labrador has even said defense spending should be examined.

“We must look at military and homeland security spending,” Labrador said to the Idaho House of Representatives during a speech there in February.  “You cannot tell me there is no waste, fraud, and abuse in those areas.”

Labrador’s spokesman, Phil Hardy, defended the budget hike, saying that adequately funding the military is one way the congressman supports the troops. “He voted for the final defense appropriations bill with the knowledge that at a time when the president continues to stretch our armed forces by entering into new conflicts, this is the best way to support our men and women in uniform without endangering them,” Hardy explained.

He also pointed out that final vote doesn’t show Labrador’s efforts to cut the overall spending amount.  “He voted for several amendments – which were ultimately defeated – which would have cut specific programs and lowered the overall funding level in the bill,” Hardy said.

An inquiry into Simpson’s vote for the increased defense budget has gone unfulfilled by his office.

The bill now moves on to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

“I do not agree with many of your policies, but the void your inaction has created is real and it is dangerous,” Labrador wrote Friday in his open letter, saying the president needs to offer a new budget plan. House Republicans passed a budget written by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that Obama called pessimistic.

Crapo is working with the “Gang of Five,” formerly the “Gang of Six,” senators on a new version of a deficit reduction plan that wasn’t approved by Obama’s fiscal commission. Crapo spoke Thursday at the Ripon Society, a Republican policy organization, about his work with senators, and the president’s lack of action since forming the fiscal commission.

“I’ve been openly and consistently critical of the president’s absence from the debate,” Crapo said, who served on the president’s fiscal commission.

The most pressing fiscal issue before Congress and the President is a vote on whether and how to raise the federal debt ceiling, which would allow the government to continue borrowing money and paying its bills. Authorizing an increase in the debt ceiling is needed by early August, though House Republicans say they will need guarantees of spending reductions to OK the plan. Labrador has said he won’t vote for it unless it comes with a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.

Obama is putting Vice President Joe Biden in charge of brokering a debt ceiling deal. Those talks are happening at the Blair House, which is why Crapo called them the Blair talks.

Crapo called the debt ceiling talks toxic and said the work of the “Gang of Six” is more wide-ranging.

Crapo said he expects Congress will ultimately approve increasing the debt ceiling, though he said it’s a difficult political situation. “Speaker (John) Boehner, R-Ohio, has got an incredible conundrum on his hands with the number of members in his caucus who probably won’t vote for anything and the Democrats who wouldn’t vote for something that is wholly unacceptable to the majority of the Republican members,” Crapo said. “I don’t know how the House threads that needle.”

In his letter to Obama, Labrador said Obama could work with Republicans much like President Bill Clinton worked with Republicans in Congress in the 1990s. He also said there could be agreement on some fiscal issues, including reforming the tax code and reducing spending and regulations.

“Republicans in this Congress have stepped forward with bold actions of their own, and I respect your opposing viewpoint,” Labrador said. “But I would rather be arguing two years from now over who should get the credit for an economic turnaround—as our predecessors did in 1996.”

Read Labrador’s letter to the president here and watch Crapo’s speech to the Ripon Society here.

The failed legislation would have raised the federal debt limit to $16.7 trillion.

“I have said all along that I will not vote to raise the debt ceiling without substantial and meaningful changes to the way the federal government spends money, such as a balanced budget amendment,” Labrador said in a news release. “The failure of this bill to pass today demonstrated that many on both sides of the aisle agree with me and disagree with the president’s call for a ‘clean’ debt ceiling vote.”

Labrador called Tuesday’s plan a “clean” debt ceiling vote because no spending changes or reductions are tied to the additional borrowing authority. President Barack Obama and other Democrats called for a clean debt ceiling plan, though Vice President Joe Biden is working with members of Congress on a compromise plan.

The federal government is expected to meet its debt limit in early August, meaning Congress might need to act soon.

Simpson said in a news release that the plan wasn’t expected to pass, and that it shows that House Republicans want a plan to reduce the debt.

“Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, needs to take this opportunity to take stock of past mistakes made by running up record budgets and making little effort to pay for them,” Simpson said. “The days of record deficits and soaring debts must end. Congress needs to meet this challenge and take another step toward lasting fiscal security for this country.”

Democrats in the House say the plan, brought forward by Republicans, wasn’t serious. “This is not an honest debate. This is not an honest proposal,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said during a debate on the plan. “This debt limit vote is about whether or not we’re going to pay our bills.”

Congress last raised the debt ceiling in 2009, with all of the Idaho delegation voting against the plan. During the Bush administration, Congress raised the debt ceiling several times, with Idaho Republicans, including Simpson and Sen. Mike Crapo, voting in favor of increasing the amount of money the federal government could borrow.

Labrador, Breitbart, and Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman spoke to a crowd of 370 people in Nampa Thursday. Otter, Luna, Lt. Gov. Brad Little, State Treasurer Ron Crane, and many GOP lawmakers were in attendance. Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, and Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, also won awards from the organization for their efforts to nullify federal health care laws and pass anti-wolf legislation.

Hoffman said the IFF has had a significant impact in its short lifespan. “We have been encouraging lawmakers to reject tax increases, and they have,” he said. “We’ve encouraged lawmakers to cut waste, and they have. We suggested many of the reforms that were in Tom (Luna)’s education reform package, which were adopted.”

Labrador credited the crowd for his success in his underdog electoral victory to Congress in last year. Labrador also railed against federal spending, calling it out of control. “We need to examine every program for waste, fraud and abuse,” Labrador said.

Rep. Raul Labrador

Labrador singled out a government agency in Afghanistan that was asking for more federal spending, but couldn’t list the programs it’d started or finished. “I was outraged,” Labrador said. “They were proud that they had spent billions and billions of your dollars. I was ashamed of the work that they were doing.” Labrador said the entire federal government needs to be more fiscally responsible.

One looming debate for Congress will be to raise the national debt ceiling, which would allow the federal government to borrow more money. Proponents say raising the debt ceiling, which would likely need to happen by early August, is needed to keep the government running and prevent it from defaulting on its loans. Labrador said he wouldn’t vote for raising the debt ceiling without promises of a federal spending cap or a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Labrador also voted against a continuing resolution last month that reduced spending in the current budget by almost $40 billion, because he said House Republicans promised a $100 billion cut. “It wasn’t even close,” Labrador said, though he added that he’s glad Congress is considering cuts rather than more spending.

Breitbart told the crowd that the IFF is an example of conservatives learning about community organizing practices that have long been used only by the left. He said efforts by Tea Party groups and other conservatives that helped Labradors and other new Republicans in Congress last year should continue.

“If you liked 2010, 2012 should be more spectacular, but we have to keep up the fight,” Breitbart told the crowd.

Breitbart, an author, pundit and web entrepreneur, told the crowd that the secret to his success is being the pettiest person they’d ever meet, explaining that nothing is too small to call attention to if it is a problem. He also urged conservatives to speak out against media and cultural portrayals they disagree with, including protesting TV stations and individual journalists. “Politics is downstream from culture — culture is way more important,” he said.

The attendance at IFF’s second annual banquet was more than double last year’s banquet in Boise. 670 KBOI’s Nate Shelman was the master of ceremonies for the event. At the end of the event, Shelman thanked Luna, who had already won an award from the group. “Mr. Luna, I support you,” Shelman said. “I’ve got your back.”

The IFF gave its lifetime achievement award to former legislator Maurice Clements of Nampa. That award is named after the late Ralph Smeed. Middleton City Councilman Lenny Riccio received an award for promoting government transparency. Jack Stuart of Meridian won the Pioneer Award. Rachel Gilbert, Hubert Osbourne and Don Brandt all won a Patriot Award for their efforts supporting free markets.

Note: IdahoReporter.com is published by the Idaho Freedom Foundation.