Nate Rodriguez

4 November 2014
Senatorial Profile
The elected official that I had chosen was U.S. Senator James E. Risch. He is a
Republican out of the state of Idaho that was first elected in 2008 and is in fact Idahos 28th
senator. He claims to have a longstanding commitment to public service and a passion for good
government. He is also known for pragmatic decision making and his peer call him a "nononsense, get-the-job-done leader".
James Elroy Risch was born on May 3, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. He
has been married to Vicki Risch for more that 40 years and has three married sons, and six
grandchildren. Senator Risch has obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry from the
University of Idaho, and has also obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Idaho,
College of Law. Also at the University of Idaho, he has served on Law Review and the College
of Law Advisory Committee, and also taught criminal law at Boise State University. He was
previously an owner of a small business, a farmer, and a senior partner in the Risch, Goss,
Insinger, Gustavel, Law firm before his election to the Senate office. Risch started his career in
politics at the age of 27 when he was elected as the Ada County prosecuting attorney for two
terms. Shortly after being president of the Idaho Prosecuting Attorney Association, he was
elected for 11 terms for the Idaho State Senate. While being a State Senator, 19 out of 22 years
he served he was either a majority leader or the Senate president pro tempore. After State
Senator he was elected lieutenant governor twice and governor once. In the 2008 election for the
United States Senate seat, he received 58 percent of the vote and in turn defeated Larry LaRocco,
a former Democratic congressman whom he had defeated in the 1986 election for State Senate

and in the 2006 election for lieutenant governor. In the recent election of 2014, Risch won by a
mass majority. He was able to receive 65.64 percent of the votes, which is a very distinguishing
victory.
The state of Idaho has an estimated population for 2013 at 1,612,136 people. Of the
population, 7 percent of them are under five years old, 26.5 percent of them are under 18 years
old, and 13.8 percent of the population is over 65 years old. Also, there is very little diversity in
Idaho with 93.7 percent of the population being White, which leaves 1.7 percent of the
population is American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.8 percent is Black or African American, 1.4
percent is Asian, 0.2 percent is Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders, 11.8 percent is
Hispanic or Latino, and 2.2 percent is two or more races. In funding for education Idaho is
below national average spending. The nation generally spends 12,752 dollars per student, but
Idaho spends only 7,915 dollars per student. Idaho is also mainly composed of the Republican
Party. The Republican Party in the state Senate occupies 28 of the 35 seats, and the Republican
Party in the state House of Representatives occupies 57 of the 70 seats. Furthermore, the
important industries of Idaho are food processing, lumber and wood products, paper products,
electronics manufacturing, silver and other mining, and tourism.
Senator Risch is involved with a total of five committees. The first is the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources and was originally known as the Committee on Public Lands.
Originally, it was a committee designed to oversee the settling of the land of the Louisiana
Purchase but now has expanded to oversee energy production ranging from nuclear to
hydroelectric, mining, grazing, leasing of gas and oil on public lands, water rights, and National
Parks and Indian Affairs. The second committee is the Select Committee on Intelligence. This
committee overlooks intelligence activities and programs of the United States. The committee

consists of two members from the Appropriations, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Judiciary
committees and seven members of the general body. The committees main priorities is to
ensure that intelligence activities are not crossing over the boundaries with the Constitution and
the U.S. Law. It also insists to ensure that the appropriate government departments and agencies
communicate intelligence information in an appropriate manner to the President and Congress.
The third committee he is involved in is the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee,
which is involved with proposed legislation or similar matters relating to the Small Business
Administration. The committee is also involved with researching, investigating, and reporting
all problems that relate to Americas small business enterprises to the Senate. In this committee,
Senator Risch is the ranking minority member. The fourth committee he is involved with is the
Committee on Foreign Relation, which happens to be one of the oldest committees in the Senate
and dates back to the year of 1816. The members of this committee are involved with working
on foreign policy legislation, overseeing policies of foreign agencies, confirming diplomatic
nominations, considering international treaties, and the funding of foreign aid programs. The
fifth and final committee he is involved with is the Select Committee on Ethics, which is a sixperson committee. It is composed of three Democrats and three Republicans who are involved
with investigating complaints and allegations of improper conduct and violations of the Senate
Code of Official Conduct. The committee is also involved with suggesting new rules and
regulations to see that the Code of Conduct is upheld, and at certain times they can recommend
disciplinary action.
Senator Risch is not only involved with a handful of committees, but he is also very
involved with a vast amount of legislation. In fact, he has sponsored or cosponsored 903 bills.
He has been involved with 543 Bills (H.R. or S), 186 Amendments (H. Amdt. or S. Amdt.), 126

Resolutions (H. Res. or S. Res.), 30 Joint Resolutions (H. J. Res. or S. J. Res.), and 18
Concurrent Resolutions (H. Con. Res. or S. Con. Res.). These Bills have ranged from
international affairs to taxation to health to even animals, and arts, culture and religion. Of these
903 bills, he has had 11 of them reviewed by the President and all 11 of them have become laws.
A majority of these laws are involved with military purposes such as awarding a congressional
medal of honor to certain groups or individuals, or another has to do with a Military Spouse
Residency Relief Act. The other majority has to do with international affairs or environmental
protection. Senator Risch also has over 40 awards/honors that have been granted to him when he
was the 111th, 112th, and 113th congress. A short list of his awards would be American
Conservative Union ACU Conservative, American Farm Bureau Federation Friend of Farm
Bureau Award, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., Champion of the Merit Shop Award,
Center for Security Policys Champion of National Security, Champion of Healthcare
Innovation, Congressional Management Foundation Silver Mouse Award, Family Research
Council's True Blue Award, Friend of the National Parks, National Federation of Independent
Business Guardian of Small Business, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Councils Champion
of the Entrepreneur, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Taxpayer Super Hero.
Furthermore, with his reelection, it is easy to conclude that he will more than likely accumulate
many more awards.
All in all, Idaho is mainly composed of Whites so according to the general trend it is easy
to understand why Republicans are the majority party, but with the amount of involvement that
Senator Risch includes himself in, it is also easily understandable as to why he was reelected.
Risch has received a vast amount of rewards, and has been involved with even more bills and
legislation and by the looks of the reelection; he will continue to be thoroughly involved with the

nation until his term is over.