Idaho's representation in the U.S. House Representatives split on Thursday - Rep. Raul Labrador voted "yes" while Rep. Mike Simpson voted "no" - when the body approved legislation aimed at helping stop cyber-attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure and private companies.

The bipartisan vote came down to 248-168 in favor of the so-called "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act."

The House passed the act, encouraging companies to share information from the Web with the government to prevent electronic attacks. Intelligence operatives say the U.S. is increasingly being targeted by sophisticated hacking from criminal networks and foreign countries, specifically China.

But civil libertarians worry that the government will put national security interests ahead of the privacy of individual Americans. The Obama administration has already threatened to veto the bill. The White House, instead, favors a Senate plan to give the Homeland Security Department authority to set standards and oversee cyber security but that bill is currently stalled.

Idaho's rural post offices will be protected, at least for a year, under new U.S. Senate amendments attached to a bill that temporarily stops the hemorrhaging of the U.S. Postal Service. The measure faces a final Senate vote today and, if successful, heads to the U.S. House for consideration.

The Postal Service is losing several billion dollars a year, in large part because of a continuing decline in first-class mail, most of which has shifted to web-based communication.

The Senate plan would halt multibillion-dollar prepayments into Postal Service employee retirement plans and gives the agency more freedom to adjust its services in order to cut costs or increase revenue. Other amendments expected to pass include halting the closure of rural post offices for one year and prohibit closure of any post office unless the nearest post office is within 10 miles.

The so-called Buffett rule went down in the U.S. Senate Monday. The plan, named for billionaire Warrren Buffett, would have seen millionaires pay a minimum of 30 percent of their income in taxes - an amount that backers said was comparable to rates paid by the middle class.

But the vote, mostly along party lines, received 51 "yea" votes and 45 "no" votes, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Idaho Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch both voted against the measure. Republicans argued that raising taxes on capital gains and dividends would be harmful to investment.

But Democratic leaders said the failure to pass the Senate spoke to larger economic issues facing the United States.

"In many important ways, the United States is departing from its democratic tradition," said Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. "And it is moving rapidly into an oligarchic government in which almost all wealth and power reside in the hands of the very richest people in our society."

Have you ever seen a double-deck trailer transporting horses? Even though it's against the law to transport horses in that fashion on their way to slaughter, it's not an uncommon sight.

• Double-deck horse trailer.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture says it doesn't have the resources to enforce the regulation. And the law also allows horses to be hauled in double-deck trailers to destinations other than slaughter houses, such as rodeos. According to the Animal Law Coalition, violators routinely haul horses long distances in double-deck trailers until they get relatively close to a slaughter house. They then transfer the horses to another vehicle so they don't get caught as they approach the slaughter house.

But rodeo operators are calling foul and want a new bill that would ban the use of double-deck trailers to transport horses across the board. The provision was approved last Friday by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. It proposes, in part, to levy a fine of $100 to $500 per horse transported "in a motor vehicle containing two or more levels stacked on top of each other." The USDA has voiced support for the broader ban.

Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a shooting attack that killed 6 and wounded 13, announced today that she will resign fom Congress this week.

Elected to the U.S. House in 2007, Giffords said she needed more time to recover from the shooting.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day," Giffords said today, referring to Jan. 9, 2011, when a gunman opened fire on a "Congress on your corner" meet-and-greet event outside a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, is charged with the shooting, including the murder of a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge.

On Aug. 1, 2011, Giffords made a rare and emotional appearance on the floor of Congress to cast a crucial vote on a bill to raise the nation's debt limit.

Early this morning, the U.S. Senate voted to extend the payroll tax cut by two months. The deal, passed in a 89-10 vote, heads to the U.S. House for consideration next week. Failure to pass the payroll tax measure would affect approximately 800,000 Idahoans, translating to approximately half-a-billion dollars

Attached to the bill is a provision to speed up a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipleine, giving the Obama White House 60 days to go on record for or against the XL.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are still trying to push through their own version of a payroll tax measure that includes a construction mandate for the Keystone pipeline.

The XL would transport oil from Canada's tar sands production facilities in northern Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Texas. Environmentalists complain that the pipeline route could threaten Nebraska's Sandhills region and vital Ogallala acquifer. The U.S. State Department has final authority on approving the pipeline.

Never before in the Gallup Organization's 35-year history has Congress received such low ethics ratings as it has in the latest poll released this morning.

A record 64 percent of American adults rated the honesty and ethical standards for Congress as "low" or "very low." Only congressional lobbyists have ever reached that low in a Gallup poll, also hitting a 64 percent mark in 2008.

Telemarketers and car salesmen topped 60 percent in previous polls.

Medical professionals (doctors, nurses and pharmacists) got the highest marks for ethics in today's poll.

"Some of the frustration with Congress is no doubt related to the poor economy, which is also keeping down President Obama's job ratings," wrote Gallup. "Congress' poor ratings also likely result from the institution's inability to address the key issues facing the country, such as jobs and the federal budget deficit, with the failure of the supercommittee to reach agreement on deficit reduction a recent example."

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna is heading back to the nation's capital later today. Luna said he has been asked to testify before Congress on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law.

On Sept. 23, Luna took part in a White House ceremony as President Barack Obama unveiled a new process giving states more flexibility under the law. Idaho is among three states that have vowed to ignore the latest requirements under No Child Left Behind, saying they "set unrealistic benchmarks." Obama said that since Congress has failed to rewrite the controversial law, he would allow states more flexibility in implementing the measures. Forty states have since said they will also seek waivers from the law.

Luna is president-elect of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

In preparation of the latest financial disclosures from Washington's power elite, a new study indicates—to not much surprise—that the rich in Congress are getting richer.

According to Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, "members of Congress had a collective net worth of more than $2 billion in 2010, a nearly 25-percent increase over the 2008 total. Nearly 90 percent of that increase is concentrated in the 50 richest members of Congress."

In August, Idaho junior Sen. Jim Risch ranked 16th on the list, with assets totaling $20.1 million and $320,000 in liabilities. His net worth, $19.78 million, was up $90,000 from a year ago. No other Idaho congressman made the top 50 list.

A handful of members of Congress are worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars—the richest this year being Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, worth a minimum of $294 million.

Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo is reaching across the aisle to co-sponsor a new "green" jobs bill with Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland.

The measure promises to create up to 40,000 green construction jobs nationwide. The legislation includes a package of tax incentives to make roofs of existing commercial buildings more energy-efficient and would significantly reduce the depreciation schedule to speed up retrofitting.

Cardin said the bill has support from the National Roofing Contractors Association and the United Union of Roofers.

Crapo and Cardin are members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee.