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Indy Congressional Tracker: Republicans celebrate, Democrats decry Senate tax bill passage

Riley Snyder
Riley Snyder
Congress
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Tax reform dominated the week in Washington D.C., with eyes across the nation glued to the Senate floor as Republicans burned the midnight oil before pushing through the first major tax code overhaul in three decades.

After days of debate and multiple last-minute attempts by Democrats to block the measure, Senate Republicans nonetheless approved a major tax overhaul in the late hours of Friday night on a 51-49 vote, with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker the only Republican defector.

Nevada’s senators — Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Dean Heller — stayed squarely in their party’s respective camps this week. Other than voting to approve Dabney Friedrich as a District of Columbia circuit judge and on two amendment votes to the main tax bill, the state’s senators split on every other vote.

Heller, long a vocal proponent of the tax measure, touted studies indicating an economic boost and took credit for a provision doubling the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000.

“This is a piece of legislation that will empower American families and help restore faith in the American dream by giving tax cuts to the middle class, creating jobs, and growing our economy,” he said in a statement. “And I’m proud to have played a role in getting it passed.”

Cortez Masto derided the bill’s passage as an “early Christmas gift to the top one-percent and big corporations.”

“Republican lawmakers had no problem breaking out the national credit card to give them this exorbitant gift,” she said in a statement. “Future generations will be paying for their $1.5 trillion deficit hike for decades to come.”

Although passage in the Senate marks a major hurdle cleared, the bill still needs to go through a conference committee to suss out differences with the House’s version of the legislation. The final version would then need to be adopted by both congressional bodies before going to President Donald Trump for a signature.

In the House, agreement between the state’s four congressional representatives was equally hard to come by — the delegation voted as a bloc on only three of 15 roll call votes cast throughout the week.

The state’s three Democratic House members typically voted in tandem, but freshman Rep. Jacky Rosen broke with her colleagues to cast a vote in support of a measure changing mortgage rules on manufactured housing. The bill, entitled the “Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2017,” passed on a 256-163 margin, with 27 Democrats crossing party lines to support the measure.

For a full rundown of what measures our state’s delegates threw their support behind this week, check out The Nevada Independent’s congressional vote tracker and other information below.

Legislation sponsored:

  • S. 2170 - A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the deduction for local lobbying expenses.

Legislation cosponsored:

  • S. 2143 - A bill to amend the National Labor Relations Act to strengthen protections for employees wishing to advocate for improved wages, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment, to expand coverage under such Act, to provide a process for achieving initial collective bargaining agreements, and to provide for stronger remedies for interference with these rights, and for other purposes.
  • S. 414 - Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act

SEN. DEAN HELLER

Legislation sponsored:

  • S. 2183 - A bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to provide for a special rule during the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 for the redistribution of certain Children's Health Insurance Program allocations for certain shortfall States.

REP. DINA TITUS

Legislation cosponsored:

  • H.R. 1825 - Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2017
  • H.R. 4143 - Dialysis PATIENTS Demonstration Act of 2017
  • H.R. 4477 - To enforce current law regarding the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
  • H.Res. 630 - Requiring each Member, officer, and employee of the House of Representatives to complete a program of training in workplace rights and responsibilities each session of each Congress, and for other purposes.
  • H.R. 4396 - ME TOO Congress Act

REP. JACKY ROSEN

Legislation cosponsored:

  • H.R. 2401 - Anti-Lunch Shaming Act of 2017
  • H.R. 1167 - Enhancing Opportunities for Medical Doctors Act of 2017
  • H.R. 1374 - Arbitration Fairness Act of 2017
  • H.R. 3378 - Ensuring Access to Air Ambulance Services Act of 2017
  • H.R. 3958 - Securing Energy Infrastructure Act of 2017
  • H.R. 4314 - No Pensions for Corrupt Politicians Act of 2017
  • H.R. 4494 - To amend the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 to prohibit the use of public funds to pay awards and settlements in connection with claims under such Act which arise from sexual harassment, and for other purposes.
  • H.R. 4518 - To expand the boundaries of the Bears Ears National Monument, to ensure prompt engagement with the Bears Ears Commission and prompt implementation of the Proclamation establishing the Bears Ears National Monument, and for other purposes.
  • H.Con.Res. 63 - Supporting efforts to enact a bold jobs and infrastructure package that benefits all Americans, not just billionaires.

REP. RUBEN KIHUEN

Legislation cosponsored:

  • H.R. 3730 - To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the non-application of Medicare competitive acquisition rates to complex rehabilitative manual wheelchairs and accessories.

REP. MARK AMODEI

Legislation cosponsored:

  • H.R. 3350 - Transparency in Music Licensing and Ownership Act
  • H.R. 3770 - Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence Act of 2017
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