As the federal budgeting process begins in earnest, Nevada’s lawmakers have begun making requests. Meanwhile, one of President Joe Biden’s most popular programs among young people – student debt relief – is on the brink of cancellation by the Supreme Court.

SCOTUS endangers Biden’s student debt relief program

When President Joe Biden announced an executive order cancelling up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers last August, his approval rating rose to its highest level in 2022, jumping nine points in just one month, per Quinnipiac.

Long a Democratic policy priority – and a topic of debate in the 2020 Democratic presidential nominating contest – Biden’s move marked an important win for the left and a boon to the more than 22 million Americans under the age of 35 who collectively owe billions in student loans. According to data from the Biden administration, 198,000 Nevadans are eligible for relief from the program.

“The cost of college has skyrocketed and too many borrowers can’t afford to buy a home, start a business, or save for retirement,” the Young Democrats of Nevada tweeted at the time. “Thankfully, today the Biden-Harris Administration announced actions it's taking on student debt relief for working and middle-class families.”

But Biden’s executive order, which offered up to $10,000 in loan relief for individuals earning under $125,000, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, was beset by legal challenges almost immediately. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Department of Education v. Brown and Biden v. Nebraska, and the tone of questioning from the court’s six-justice conservative majority indicated they would likely kill the program before it even began – leaving Nevada borrowers in limbo.

During oral arguments Tuesday, members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority expressed dubiousness about the administration’s legal standing for debt cancellation, while appearing poised to expand the major questions doctrine, a legal principle that maintains federal agencies need explicit congressional authorization on issues of major national significance, and cannot rely on broad or general powers granted by Congress. The principle has been the legal basis for conservative justices to gut agency authority, notably in a 2022 case limiting the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The Biden administration has argued that its loan forgiveness program is legal under the HEROES Act of 2003, which vested the Department of Education with the power to grant student financial relief during emergencies. The HEROES Act provided the legal justification for the student loan payment pause as well, which expires this June after being in effect for over two years.

During oral arguments, conservative justices focused on a number of issues – saying that emergency powers had been misused in the past, that the loan relief was unfair in that it only provides cancellation for educational loans and not small business loans, and the enormity of funds that the executive order covers. Liberal justices, meanwhile, pointed out  — as they have in several cases pertaining to who has the authority to set policy  — that experts within agencies are better poised to answer these questions than judges, and that the student loan crisis is, indeed, a crisis.

If the program is upheld, it would likely be on the narrow basis that the states who sued the Biden administration lack legal standing because they have not proven that the cancellation of federal student debt specifically injured their higher education systems or finances.

While several Democrats in Congress stopped by pro-cancellation protests outside of the court, Nevada Democrats remained more reticent to get involved. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) — who broke ranks with fellow Democrats to come out against Biden’s loan forgiveness program last August in the heat of her re-election campaign — said in the Senate basement she had “no idea” what would come of the case.

While declining to comment on what she hoped to see from the court, Rep. Dina Titus’ (D-NV) spokesperson said the Las Vegas representative was generally supportive of easing student loan burdens.

“Rep. Titus strongly supports targeted debt relief for working and middle-class Nevada families, and has pushed Congress to make education more affordable and accessible to all,” spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), the state’s lone Republican in Congress, said the line between what is a congressional responsibility and what is the job of the executive branch has been blurred largely due to congressional inaction. But he said while he understands how cumbersome the debt burden has become and would be interested in some form of restructuring, he found student debt cancellation to be both unfair to other types of borrowers and something that falls into Congress’ jurisdiction.

“It was clearly a political move,” he said in an interview. “The timing would support that. The demographic that it would most benefit is one that is probably a prime target area for the President to think is part of his base.” 

Rosen and Cortez Masto ask Biden for new Reno veterans’ hospital

With the President’s proposed budget slated for a March 9 release and the House Appropriations committee beginning to take and analyze budget requests, Nevada’s senators are asking for a line item supporting Nevada veterans.

In a Wednesday letter to the President, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) requested that Congress appropriate funds for a new veterans’ hospital in Reno, rather than renovating the existing VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System Medical Center on Kirman Ave.

In 2012, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs submitted a request to renovate the Reno center to fix earthquake safety issues and other infrastructure deficiencies, the senators wrote – problems which they say have only gotten worse. In a 2022 report, the VA rated the center’s seismicity risk to be “very high”. 

The senators say given the region’s high propensity for earthquake activity, population growth in Reno since the original proposal, and the cost of renovation, a VA feasibility study has determined that a new facility would be the best option going forward.

“The best solution for veterans is to construct a new state-of-the-art clinical space in Reno to improve patient access to modernized and expanded services and programs,” the senators wrote. “This project would address existing deficiencies and space concerns, while alleviating the burden of renovating a facility actively treating patients.”

A new facility, they wrote, would also take eight years to build, while a renovation is estimated to be a 15-to-20 year project.

Cortez Masto and Rosen are not the only ones engaged in budgetary negotiations.

As the House Appropriations Committee begins hearing and analyzing budget requests, committee members Reps. Mark Amodei (R-NV) and Susie Lee (D-NV) will get to influence how bills pertaining to the legislative branch, public lands, military construction, financial services, and other domains are crafted. As the chair of the Legislative Branch subcommittee, Amodei will hear requests from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Government Publishing Office as he and his committee go about writing a budget for the next fiscal year. 

Lee, meanwhile, got to question Air Force leadership this week during a hearing of the Military Construction, Veterans’ Affairs and Related Agencies subcommittee about affordable housing needs at Nellis and Creech Air Force Bases. Lee said servicemembers who live off-campus, especially at Creech, where there is no on-base housing, struggle to find housing in the Las Vegas area and spend up to one-third of their salary on gas commuting to and from the bases. She asked if the Air Force was planning to raise the cost-of-living allowance, add housing options, or bring back a gas allowance, to which leaders said they were hoping to expand assignment incentives for bases that have excess housing and improve free shuttle service to bases.

Nevada members will also begin to make earmark requests for projects in their district – though under the leadership of Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-TX), requests under the domain of Financial Services and General Government; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Defense subcommittees will no longer be permitted. Last year, Nevada lawmakers got funds for county-level mental health services, nursing education, and career advancement programs through those subcommittees.

Around the Capitol

• Sen. Jacky Rosen got to ask President Joe Biden directly about her efforts to fix the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband map to provide accurate data about Internet service in Nevada and across the country, which is used to allocate Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. Rosen told me that Biden assured her he would have his team look into it.
• The pandemic-era expansion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits expired in Nevada on March 1. Beneficiaries will receive, on average, a $90 reduction in monthly food assistance per person, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
• In the wake of Eli Lilly announcing it will cap the price of insulin at $35 per month, the Biden administration released state-by-state data on diabetes. Nevada was in the middle of the pack, with 9.6 percent of adults over 18 in the state having diabetes.
• Rosen will vote for a GOP-sponsored resolution that would overturn changes to the D.C. criminal code. Lee and 30 other House Democrats supported the resolution when it passed the House, and Biden said he will approve it – aggravating supporters of D.C. home rule and House Democrats, but providing cover for Senate Democrats who do not want to be accused of being “soft on crime.”
• Rep. Dina Titus, along with seven other Democrats, signed onto a letter from Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) calling on the Biden administration to reconsider a pending rule that would nearly quadruple the visa fee foreign artists would pay to play music in the U.S.
• Titus, along with other House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats, voted against reporting a bill out of committee that would ostensibly ban TikTok. Republicans advanced it on a party-line vote.
• Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) moderated a panel titled “Winning the Narrative on Safety, Accountability, and Justice – Leading with Solutions, Not Scare Tactics” at House Democrats’ retreat in Baltimore this week.
• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rosen were co-sponsors on the reintroduction of the PRO Act, a bill bolstering union protections that Democrats have introduced multiple times. Horsford and Titus are co-sponsors in the House.
• Titus introduced a bill to extend greater protections to airline passengers with disabilities.
• Lee was part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers to introduce the Biking on Long-Distance Trails Act to develop new long-distance bike trails on public lands, and improve and expand mapping on existing ones.
• The entire Nevada delegation re-introduced the Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act – more information on that here.

Notable and Quotable

“If we’ve learned one thing about permitting reform over the last year, it is that there is bicameral and bipartisan interest in getting it done. Unfortunately, the BUILDER Act is not it. Permitting reform is too important, too necessary, and too urgent for this committee and this Congress to spend time on partisan bills and one-sided legislative packages that will go nowhere."

• Rep. Susie Lee, on House Republicans’ approach to permitting reform, much of which aims to weaken the National Environmental Protection Act to shorten the environmental review process. Many Democrats, including Lee, want to achieve permitting reform – particularly for renewable energy, which Nevada has seen enormous federal investment in – but disagree with bills like the BUILDER Act, which would severely weaken NEPA and benefit fossil fuel companies, they say.

Legislative Tracker

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO

Sponsored:

S.612 – A bill to reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and for other purposes.

Co-sponsored:

S.563 – A bill to amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian Tribes, and for other purposes.

S.566 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify and extend the deduction for charitable contributions for individuals not itemizing deductions.

S.567 – A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, and for other purposes.

S.596 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make employers of spouses of military personnel eligible for the work opportunity credit.

S.597 – A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to repeal the Government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions.

S.Res.57 – A resolution honoring the life of David Ferdinand Durenberger, former Senator for the State of Minnesota.

S.637 – A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to apply child labor laws to independent contractors, increase penalties for child labor law violations, and for other purposes.

S.640 – A bill to suspend the enforcement of certain civil liabilities of Federal employees and contractors during a lapse in appropriations, or during a breach of the statutory debt limit, and for other purposes.

S.652 – A bill to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a group health plan or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such a plan to provide an exceptions process for any medication step therapy protocol, and for other purposes.

SEN. JACKY ROSEN

Co-sponsored:

S.567 – A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, and for other purposes.

S.612 – A bill to reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and for other purposes.

S.Res.57 – A resolution honoring the life of David Ferdinand Durenberger, former Senator for the State of Minnesota.

S.652 – A bill to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a group health plan or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such a plan to provide an exceptions process for any medication step therapy protocol, and for other purposes.

REP. DINA TITUS

Sponsored:

H.R.1267 – To protect the rights of passengers with disabilities in air transportation, and for other purposes.

Co-sponsored:

H.R.1230 – To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to States to support the establishment and operation of grocery stores in underserved communities, and for other purposes.

H.R.1244 – To posthumously award a historic Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to Africans and their descendants enslaved within our country from August 20, 1619, to December 6, 1865.

H.R.20 – Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2023

H.R.1247 – To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders, collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement for equality in interstate travel.

H.R.1249 – To prohibit certain practices relating to certain commodity promotion programs, to require greater transparency by those programs, and for other purposes.

H.R.1251 – To authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor to Doris Miller posthumously for acts of valor while a member of the Navy during World War II.

H.R.1252 – To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Doris Miller, in recognition of his acts of valor while a member of the United States Navy during World War II.

H.R.1277 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make employers of spouses of military personnel eligible for the work opportunity credit.

H.R.1282 – To amend title 10, United States Code, to expand eligibility to certain military retirees for concurrent receipt of veterans' disability compensation and retired pay or combat-related special compensation, and for other purposes.

H.R.1302 – To repeal certain impediments to the administration of the firearms laws.

H.R.1328 – To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to establish nonvisual accessibility standards for certain devices with digital interfaces, and for other purposes.

H.R.1274 – To reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and for other purposes.

REP. MARK AMODEI

Sponsored:

H.R.1274 – To reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and for other purposes.

Co-sponsored:

H.R.1305 – To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to formulate a strategy for the Federal Government to secure support from foreign countries, multilateral organizations, and other appropriate entities to facilitate the development and commercialization of qualified pandemic or epidemic products, and for other purposes.

REP. SUSIE LEE

Sponsored:

H.Amdt.92 – An amendment numbered 9 printed in House Report 118-4 to state that nothing in this bill should be construed to suggest that the task of combating inflation and bringing down the cost of living is the sole responsibility of the Executive Office of the President. (Amends H.R.347)

Co-sponsored:

H.Res.173 – Expressing support for the designation of the week of February 27 through March 3, 2023, as "Public Schools Week".

H.R.1318 – To authorize the location of a monument on the National Mall to commemorate and honor the women's suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and for other purposes.

H.R.1319 – To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to develop long-distance bike trails on Federal land.

H.R.1274 – To reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and for other purposes.

REP. STEVEN HORSFORD

Co-sponsored:

H.Res.184 – Original Black History Month Resolution of 2023

H.R.20 – Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2023

H.R.1244 – To posthumously award a historic Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to Africans and their descendants enslaved within our country from August 20, 1619, to December 6, 1865.

H.R.1274 – To reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and for other purposes.

The Week Ahead

The budgeting process will move forward next week, with the White House’s budget coming out Thursday.