After the backlash triggered by the White House policy that resulted in the separation of children from families that illegally cross the border, House Republicans spent last week trying to keep families together, but failed in their first attempt to pass a legislative fix.

Rep. Mark Amodei, Nevada’s only House Republican, voted for the measure, a conservative broad immigration bill that addressed the separation issue, legalized young undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers, but requires them to reapply every three years, boosts border security funding and lowered levels of legal immigration. But the bill was defeated Thursday, 231 to 193.

The bill was not Amodei’s preferred solution—he wanted a more permanent fix for DREAMers— but he supported the legislation because he has been a vocal proponent of Congress acting on the immigration issue. “While this is not my first pick, second pick, third pick, I’m going to pick something over nothing,” Amodei said after the vote.

The House is expected to vote on a compromise immigration proposal next week. The bill is similar to the conservative plan; one difference is that it would provide a path to citizenship for DREAMers and give them legal status for which they must reapply every six years. House GOP leaders initially planned to vote on the measure Thursday, but delayed the vote until next week in hopes of whipping up more support for the bill. Prospects for passage are unclear at best as conservative and moderate House Republicans remain divided on an immigration solution. President Donald Trump did not help win backing for the bill when he tweeted on Friday that “Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressman/women in November.”

No Democrats voted for the immigration bill Thursday, including Reps. Dina Titus, Jacky Rosen and Ruben Kihuen, who have all been critical of GOP immigration efforts. All three co-sponsored a Democratic bill last week that would allow the separation of undocumented children from their family in certain circumstances. It is the companion measure to a bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California.

“Instead of working with Democrats, Republicans have opted to push partisan legislation that fails too many Dreamers,” Rosen said in a release, “House Republicans should stop with the partisan games and work across the aisle with us to solve this crisis.”

Family separation and immigration will likely be a topic of discussion at the Nevada State Democratic Party Convention in Reno on Saturday. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, will address the convention along with Rosen, who is challenging Sen. Dean Heller, a Republican, in a race growing more heated by the day.

The issue began in April when the White House announced that it would begin to prosecute all illegal entries in the country as crimes, including those seeking asylum, in what the administration called a “zero tolerance” policy. Children are separated from their parents when the parents are charged with a crime and detained because of a decades-old court settlement that bars the government from jailing migrant children. Prior to the change, asylum-seekers who crossed the border illegally were released and told to come back for their case to be decided. The practice, known as “catch and release” by Republicans, has been criticized by Trump who promised to end it.

In the Senate, Heller, on Wednesday, signed on to a Republican measure that would allow children who illegally enter the country to be detained with their parents. A day earlier, Heller—who will host Trump at a fundraiser after the president speaks to Nevada Republicans on Saturday— signed on to a letter calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to halt the “zero tolerance” policy while Congress acts.

“Nobody wants to see children separated from their families, period,” Heller said in a release. “That’s why I joined several of my colleagues in urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to stop the practice of dividing families who have illegally crossed the border until Congress can pass legislation to keep families together.”

Like other Democrats, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has been an opponent of Trump’s policy and called on the GOP to legislate with compassion. “This President created crisis after crisis and used human beings to advance his political agenda,” she said in a release. “I challenge him and Republican leaders in Congress to show compassion, respect human rights, and work in good faith with Democrats to pass bipartisan legislation that addresses the immigration challenges our country faces.”

On Thursday, Titus wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar asking if any of the children separated from their parents have been sent to government facilities in Nevada.

The House, also last week, approved legislation reauthorizing the nation’s agriculture and nutrition programs. The measure, which would cost $887 billion over 10 years, squeaked by Thursday on a 213 to 211 vote. Amodei voted for the legislation and Titus, Kihuen and Rosen opposed it. Their opposition is the result, in part, of more than $20 billion in cuts over 10 years to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s food assistance program.

“Instead of helping the millions of Americans struggling with food insecurity, House Republicans callously chose to take away or cut SNAP benefits from those who need it most, including single mothers, seniors, individuals with disabilities and rural and native communities,” Kihuen said in a release. “Two months after passing a nearly $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and corporations, it is shameful that Republicans are forcing low-income children and families to foot the bill.”

Meanwhile, the Senate last week approved the annual defense authorization bill. Both Sen. Heller and Cortez Masto voted for the measure.

Heller lauded the fact that the bill did not include any funding to advance the project to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The House version of the bill includes $30 million for the project.

Both Heller and Cortez Masto were concerned about a USA TODAY story that found that the Department of Veterans Affairs hid that almost half of its nursing homes received the agency's lowest rating of one out of five stars as of the end of last year. One of the facilities was in Reno.

Heller wrote to the VA’s Sierra Nevada Health Care System Director Lisa Howard seeking additional information.

Cortez Masto has offered an amendment to a package of spending bills under consideration in the Senate that would require the VA inspector general’s office to conduct an investigation of all VA nursing homes with one-star ratings in the previous two years.

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. 3093 – A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to address the protective custody of alien children accompanied by parents, and for other purposes.
S. 3089 – A bill to provide for an increase, effective December 1, 2018, in the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans, and for other purposes.
SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO
Legislation co-sponsored:
S. 3110 – A bill to support educational entities in fully implementing Title IX and reducing and preventing sex discrimination in all areas of education.
REP. DINA TITUS
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6137 – To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand access to school-wide arts and music programs, and for other purposes.
H.R. 6135 – To limit the separation of families at or near ports of entry.
REP. JACKY ROSEN
Legislation sponsored:
H.R. 6172 – To require the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Attorney General, to reunite alien parents separated from their minor children with such children, and for other purposes.
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6166 – To require the Secretary of Energy to develop a solar workforce training course for certain members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
H.R. 6135 – To limit the separation of families at or near ports of entry.
REP. RUBEN KIHUEN
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 6135 – To limit the separation of families at or near ports of entry.