How will Nevada's congressional delegation adapt to unified GOP control?

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s congressional delegation all won re-election in November, and though they’ll make legislation under a new yet familiar administration, the six members of Congress said their priorities and bipartisan efforts will remain the same.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen must re-familiarize themselves with being in the minority party after Republicans took control of the Senate, House and the White House.

Though Republicans’ control of the House continues, Reps. Dina Titus, Mark Amodei, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford must re-adapt to a fully controlled GOP government.

But no matter who is sitting at the Oval Office, Nevada’s delegation will continue to play important roles in Congress and work to move their priorities forward, they said during interviews.

“On many issues, time and again, we found ways to work across the aisle, and I expect this next Congress will be no different,” Horsford said.

The senators

Cortez Masto and Rosen both began their Senate careers under a Trump administration and were serving in 2018 when Republicans were last in control, so they don’t expect their roles or priorities to change much.

Cortez Masto said she will continue to fight for more affordable housing, to lower drug and health care prices, support small businesses and entrepreneurs, and ensure the Affordable Care Act, Inflation Reduction Act and other priorities aren’t repealed.

She said she had fought against the Trump administration over the Affordable Care Act and against the Biden administration when ranchers and farmers were going to be affected by its policies.

She said she will continue to find places where she can work with her Republican colleagues.

In the last Trump administration, she worked with Republicans to pass legislation on human trafficking, such as the Not Invisible Act of 2019 and Savanna’s Act that addressed the federal response to missing and murdered Indigenous people.

Cortez Masto also worked with colleagues under the Trump administration to fight the suicide crisis among law enforcement through the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act.

Rosen, who narrowly won her re-election in November, said she will continue to make Nevadans her priority and work across the aisle.

In a recent press call, she highlighted her Washoe County lands bill called the Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act, which expands housing and economic development on Nevada’s public lands. Rosen said she worked with Amodei on the bill — an example of how she’ll continue to operate in her second term.

“During my entire time in Congress, I’ve made it clear I will work with anyone, Republican, Democrat, Independent, to deliver common-sense solutions for Nevada,” she said.

One of Rosen’s top priorities in her second term will be to “address the kitchen table issues that are affecting our hard working families,” she said. The cost of groceries is still too high, and housing continues to be unaffordable or unavailable, she said.

She’ll keep pushing to crack down on corporations taking advantage of people, and she will support training programs so more workers have the skills to access good-paying jobs, she said.

In the House

Titus, the Democratic representative who has served Nevada’s 1st Congressional District since 2013, said she’ll focus on both the offense and defense when it comes to working under a second Trump administration.

“I’ve been in the minority a lot of my political career, both in the state Legislature and in Congress,” Titus said. “So I’m accustomed to doing that, and even when I’ve been in the minority, I get ranked the most effective legislator from Nevada. So it’s not going to change the way I do things much.”

On offense, Titus said, she will focus on jobs. She will make sure Brightline West creates the union jobs it promised, and she will ensure any reduction in renewable energy spending doesn’t result in a loss of Nevada jobs, Titus said.

She said she will also give high priority to working on extreme heat and water issues through her role on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

On defense, Titus said, she will fight to keep the Trump administration from eliminating the Department of Education or rolling back environmental protections and women’s rights.

Amodei, the longtime representative of Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District and the sole Republican in the state’s federal delegation, said he will seek to accomplish as much as he can within the next 24 months, working with both the Trump administration and the Democratic members of Nevada’s delegation.

“Despite the national headlines, there are people that work together for the good of the team,” Amodei said.

His Northern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, which gives state and local governments and tribes control over more public land for development, is an example of that bipartisanship, he said. Lee added an amendment to the bill to help transfer the interest of Jean Prison site to the state for economic development, Amodei said.

Amodei also has an important role as chair of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, which covers funding for the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security; including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Control, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Secret Service and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Amodei will get the first crack at putting the budget together that eventually will go in front of the whole Appropriations Committee.

Homeland Security’s footprint will never be bigger than it will be under the new administration, Amodei said.

“The priority is to allow this administration to be able to say that they’ve kept their campaign promises and they’ve done it in a responsible, timely and fiscally conservative way, and that’s a lot to achieve, but I think it’s achievable,” Amodei said.

Amodei said he’ll also continue to look at Nevada’s public lands and what could be opened up for development. He said he will continue to keep an eye on Nevada’s military assets and constituent services, as well as on local veterans offices and the VA hospital in Reno.

Lee, who has served Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District since 2019, said her priorities will remain primarily the same under the Trump administration. Her biggest goal is to bring back government funding to Nevada and work on reducing consumer costs, particularly for housing. She thinks she will be able to keep working in a bipartisan way on permitting reform to help with housing development.

Her bill, Accelerating Appraisals and Conservation Efforts Act, passed recently out of the Senate Natural Resources Committee, and she said she hopes it will pass this year. It aims to help open up federal land for development by addressing the shortage of land appraisers who assess the value of public land before a transaction.

Lee highlighted her bipartisan record, in which she was ranked the seventh most bipartisan member of Congress in the 118th session by The Lugar Center, a nonprofit committed “to advancing positive solutions and fostering bipartisan dialogue,” according to a the center.

“My strategy is really to represent the 750,000 constituents in Nevada,” Lee said. “My constituents overwhelmingly want someone who isn’t going to fall into party lines and is going to work across the aisle when called upon to get things done.”

Lee also was elected to serve as the battleground leadership representative for the House Democratic caucus, a position of which she spearheaded in 2022 that aims to bring a strong voice to the leadership table for Congressional members who represent battleground districts.

“I’m looking forward to making sure that our caucus represents the views and the sensitivities that people in districts like mine have, as well,” Lee said.

Horsford, the representative of Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, said he has worked effectively with Republicans in the past and knows how to get things done, but he also knows how to stand his ground and fight for things that matter, such as Social Security and Medicare.

The No. 1 issue for Horsford’s constituents continues to be the cost of housing, and he will work to bring down rent costs and make housing more affordable, he said. He hopes Congress will pass his HOME Act, which aims to crack down on price gouging in the housing market, and he will work with his colleagues to ensure there is available access to land, Horsford said.

Horsford said he is also focused on working with the Trump administration to pass his TIPS Act, which would exempt tips from federal income tax and eliminate the federal tipped sub-minimum wage of $2.13 an hour.

“It’s my view that tips are a gift and not a guarantee — and therefore should not be taxed for income,” he said. He hopes his Republican colleagues will agree to advance it, since Trump talked about the issue on the campaign trail.

Through his role on the Armed Services Committee, Horsford said he plans to keep making national security and resources to service members and their families a priority, particularly at Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base and Creech Air Force Basea.

Horsford, who also serves as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, expects there will be a two to three-seat difference in the House with Republicans at a slim majority.

“We need to focus on the needs of working people, and we need to not make people’s lives harder in Nevada,” he said. “We need to make them better. And I’m willing to work with anyone from either party who is committed to those same votes.”

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