Before heading out to kiss babies and light sparklers on their Independence Day recess, Nevada’s delegation helped pass legislation to fund the military and advanced a spending measure, which did not fund the Energy Department’s move to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

And while the Senate—with the votes of Sen. Dean Heller and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto— also last week approved its version of the farm bill, setting up negotiations with the House to reconcile differences, the lower chamber failed to pass a legislative fix that would prevent children from being separated from their parents because of a Trump administration policy to criminally charge all those who illegally cross the border.

That’s all in addition to the renewed focus on the Senate following the announcement that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will step down at the end of July.

Rep. Mark Amodei voted for two GOP-drafted immigration proposals the House considered last week, which the Nevada Republican said were not his preferred solutions. Both were broad immigration reform measures, and both failed to win a House majority. Amodei voted for the bills, one conservative and another that was comparatively more moderate, because he said he thought any action would be better than none. He was disappointed with the House GOP leadership for not allowing opportunities to amend the bills.

House GOP leaders may take up a more narrow measure dealing just with family separation after the recess, but must first confer with the White House and the Senate Republicans.

No Democrats voted for the two bills, in part, because they both included funding for Trump’s border wall with Mexico.

One of those Democrats, Rep. Dina Titus, issued a release noting that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar missed her June 28 deadline for him to respond to her June 21 letter asking if any of the children separated from their parents have been sent to government facilities in Nevada.

“It is concerning to me that the Department is either unable or unwilling to respond to my simple questions within the requested one-week time frame,” Titus said, adding she now wants to speak with Azar. “It brings into question this Administration’s ability to be accountable and responsible for the more than 2,000 children they have taken from their parents.”

Though divided on immigration, the state’s House lawmakers found common ground on funding the military with all voting to pass the bill Thursday.

The $674.6 billion spending bill included two amendments backed by Rep. Jacky Rosen, a Democrat. One increased funding for the training and retention of cybersecurity professionals by $5 million and the other boosted funding by $1 million to improve coordination between the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs as both agencies study the effects of toxic exposure to burn pits, which were typically used to get rid of waste at military sites in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the Senate, the prospect of confirming a new Supreme Court justice overtook legislative activity on the floor.

Heller—who had predicted Kennedy’s retirement in March, which he said will turn out Republican voters and help in his difficult re-election campaign—released a video signaling his support for a conservative Trump nominee in the vein of Justice Neil Gorsuch.

“I will push Senate leadership to move swiftly so that we can put another principled, conservative Justice on our nation’s highest court next to Neil Gorsuch,” Heller said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News that he expects to clear the nominee before the early fall.

Heller’s comments contrast with those of Cortez Masto, who pledged to fight a conservative nomination that she argued would threaten civil and abortion rights.

“If we give them another one like Judge Gorsuch then you’re going to see all the protections that we fought for over the years, a woman’s right to choose and our civil rights… we’re going to be looking at rolling those back,” Cortez Masto told The Nevada Independent.

But Republicans are likely to confirm Trump’s nominee unless Democrats, who need to vote together, can perusade at least one Republican to oppose their president.

Rep. Ruben Kihuen recommended that outgoing Gov. Brian Sandoval be nominated. But it’s unclear if he would be interested, or if Trump would consider him, given his moderate positions. He expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and is pro-choice.

Meanwhile, the Senate approved a $145.64 billion spending package that included funding for the Department of Energy, which did not appropriate any dollars to restart the project to build a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Heller and Cortez Masto both cheered the measure’s passage and its lack of Yucca funding.

Also last week, Heller wrote to the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, which was established in the budget deal enacted in February and called for passage of his legislation that would suspend member pay if Congress fails to pass annual budget and spending bills before the end of the fiscal year.

“I’ve been fighting for the No Budget, No Pay Act my entire career in the U.S. Senate and I believe that through the Joint Select Committee’s effort we have a unique opportunity to finally push the No Budget, No Pay Act across the goal line and fix one of Washington’s biggest problems,” Heller said.

Cortez Masto joined forces with two conservatives on two bills last week. With Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, she backed a bill that would seek to block Chinese political influence in the U.S. and elsewhere. The bill would require the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence to organize an interagency task force to compile an unclassified report on China’s disinformation, press manipulation, economic coercion and influence operations campaigns in the United States and not more than five allies and partners most affected by their influence operations in their countries.

With Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, Cortez Masto sponsored a measure that would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are used to facilitate sex and drug trafficking and make recommendations for federal action on how to fight the abuse of virtual currency to facilitate crime.

For a full rundown of the measures the delegates supported or opposed this week, check out The Nevada Independent’s congressional vote tracker and other information below.

SEN. DEAN HELLER
Legislation co-sponsored:
S. 3164 – A bill to amend the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act to update the exception for certain annual notices provided by financial institutions.
S. 3136 – A bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the female telephone operators of the Army Signal Corps, known as the "Hello Girls".
SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO
Legislation sponsored:
S. 3179 – A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United States to carry out a study on how virtual currencies and online marketplaces are used to buy, sell, or facilitate the financing of goods or services associated with sex trafficking or drug trafficking, and for other purposes.
S. 3149 – A bill to modify the penalties for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1993.
Legislation co-sponsored:
S. 3171 – A bill to require an unclassified interagency report on the political influence operations of the Government of China and the Communist Party of China with respect to the United States, and for other purposes.
S. 3151 – A bill to secure the rights of public employees to organize, act concertedly, and bargain collectively, which safeguard the public interest and promote the free and unobstructed flow of commerce, and for other purposes.
S. 3150 – A bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes.
S. 3131 – A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide increased labor law protections for agricultural workers, and for other purposes.
REP. DINA TITUS
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6824 – To direct the Secretary of Labor to report to Congress on the gender pay gap in the teenage labor force.
H.R. 6232 – To limit the separation of families at or near ports of entry.
REP. MARK AMODEI
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6221 – To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the Carson City Mint 150th anniversary, and for other purposes.
REP. JACKY ROSEN
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6274 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend certain tax credits related to electric cars, and for other purposes.
H.R. 6239 – To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes.
H.R. 6227 – To provide for a coordinated Federal program to accelerate quantum research and development for the economic and national security of the United States.
REP. RUBEN KIHUEN
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6239 – To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities, and for other purposes.