COEUR d'ALENE - U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo fielded dozens of questions from nearly 100 frustrated constituents in a town hall meeting at the Coeur d'Alene library Monday evening.

After giving a quick overview of the economic situation facing the country and how he feels it could be solved, the senator took nearly an hour's worth of questions from the audience.

He dealt with everything from onerous regulations to Alzheimer's disease.

"I think everybody in this room understands what's killing us; it's what you have right there on that board," said Rich Loudenback, who is chapter secretary for the John Birch Society. "It's all those regulations. It's insanity."

Loudenback said the U.S. cannot compete with the rest of the world with all of the regulations and restraints that businesses have to face.

Crapo said in just the last seven to eight years, the administration has created 21,000 new regulations, totaling 485,000 pages.

"At a daily cost to our economy of $762 million dollars," Crapo said. "And there are roughly 2,375 of them that haven't been finished yet."

Crapo said there are efforts underway to try and give Congress the authority to review, repeal and veto regulations.

Crapo said while Republicans control both houses of Congress, the Senate would still need to get 67 senators supporting the bill to override a presidential veto of the legislation.

"Either that or we have to get a willing president to sign it," Crapo said. "But the fight is on, and that's the point the fight is on."

Some audience members were also concerned about solidarity among the Republican Party, especially when they were in the minority in the Senate.

Others were concerned about threats from Russia, China and the Middle East.

Crapo was one of 47 senators to sign a letter to Iran to remind that country that the president doesn't have the authority to enter into a treaty without the Senate ratifying it.

He said one of the biggest threats to the U.S. is a nuclear-armed Iran. The reason Iran is negotiating with the president is because the Senate put major sanctions on Iran and they are working.

"I don't think that there is any disagreement from anyone that those sanctions are working, and that is what brought Iran to the negotiating table," Crapo said, adding President Barack Obama fought against the sanctions when the Senate was putting them together.

"Now what he is doing is reaching an agreement which will, as we understand it, lift those sanctions before we have any kind of assurance that Iran's capacity to develop a nuclear weapon has been stopped," he said.

He said the president will allow Iran to keep thousands of centrifuges that are needed to make the nuclear weapons, and then to put the U.S. in a position where the entire agreement has a 10-year sunset, which would allow Iran to do anything it wants after that.

Crapo said the letter to Iran was roundly criticized by some who said the Senate should stay clear of foreign affairs, and leave that to the president.

But, Crapo said, the Senate has three committees that deal with foreign affairs, and they certainly should be involved in those discussions.

"The fact is, it was the Senate Banking Committee that put those sanctions on Iran in the first place," he said, adding that senators are always traveling to other countries to discuss foreign affairs.

"The bottom line is this," Crapo said. "The president has said that he will do everything he can to not treat this like a treaty. It will be treated as what he calls an executive agreement, but he will submit it to the United Nations."

Crapo said the United Nations has no jurisdiction over the matter.

At the end of his time, Crapo took one more question from a volunteer with the Alzheimer Association, who thanked him for all of his help in Washington, D.C.

She said Alzheimer's disease is one of the biggest cost drivers in Medicare, and Crapo carried a bill last year called the Alzheimer's Accountability Act for the association.

"Believe it or not, it passed unanimously," she said. "Which is unheard of in Washington, D.C."

Crapo said the bill was revenue neutral, and simply called on the National Institutes of Health to re-prioritize some of its research dollars to search for a cure to Alzheimer's.

Crapo thanked the volunteer for the compliment and explained the importance of reducing preventable health care costs.

"I didn't plan it this way to end up with a compliment at the end," Crapo said.

After a call-to-action speech, Crapo adjourned the meeting about 20 minutes over schedule.

U.S. Sen Mike Crapo will visit be holding additional meetings in North Idaho towns today and again next week.

• Crapo's continuing communication

Worley: 8:30 a.m., City Hall, 9936 W. E St.

Tensed: 10:30 a.m., Tensed Community Building, 302 C St.

Potlatch: 12:45 p.m., Scenic 6 Depot, 125 Sixth St.

Bovill: 3 p.m., Bovill Community Center, 306 Pine St.

Kendrick: 5:30 p.m., Kendrick Fire Station, 600 E. Main St.

Juliaetta: 7 p.m., Juliaetta City Hall, 203 Main St.

Monday

* 1 p.m. Dalton Gardens City Hall, 6360 N. Fourth St.

* 3 p.m. Hauser City Hall, 11837 N. Hauser Lake Road

* 4:30 p.m. Post Falls Senior Center, 1215 E. Third St.

* 6 p.m. Kootenai County Emergency Medical Services, 4381 W. Seltice Way, Coeur d'Alene

Tuesday, April 7

* 10:30 a.m. Hayden Lake City Hall, 9593 N. Strahorn Road

* 12:30 p.m. Spirit Lake Community Center, 32564 N. Fourth St.

* 2:30 p.m. Oldtown Visitors Center, 68 Old Diamond Mill Road