House Democrats last week passed a bill to address the gender pay gap along with a resolution opposing President Donald Trump’s ban of transgender people from military service, while Senate GOP leaders sought to embarrass Democrats by voting on the Green New Deal.

But House Democrats failed to muster the two-thirds majority vote needed to override Trump’s veto of a bill to block his border emergency declaration, despite support from the three Nevada Democrats. The vote tally, 248 to 181, fell short of the 290 votes needed to overcome the president’s veto.

Trump issued the emergency declaration last month in a move to redirect previously appropriated military construction dollars to build a wall on the southern border, potentially threatening funding for projects at Creech and Nellis Air Force Bases.

The declaration is being challenged in the court.

“While I am disappointed that many of my Republican colleagues have thrown the Constitution aside, I am confident that our courts will not,” Rep. Dina Titus said after the vote. “Donald Trump’s unconstitutional decision to declare a fake emergency cannot stand.”

Nevada House Democrats also unanimously backed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which includes provisions that would protect against retaliation for discussing salaries with colleagues and require employers to prove that pay disparities exist for legitimate, job-related reasons.

“Equal pay is not just a women’s issue, it's a family issue,” said Rep. Steven Horsford. “Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act is a major step toward ending gender-based wage discrimination and ensuring all women are paid the wages they’ve earned.”

Nevada Democrats also all supported a nonbinding resolution condemning Trump's ban of transgender men and women from enlisting in the military.

“Banning brave Americans based on their gender identity is reprehensible and runs counter to our values,” said Rep. Susie Lee.

Neither the pay disparity bill or the transgender military service measure, which received few Republican votes in the House, are expected to be taken up by the GOP majority in the Senate.

Green New Deal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky held a vote last week on a proposal championed by progressive Democrats, known as the Green New Deal, which would seek to zero out greenhouse gas emissions and move the nation to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

The vote was designed to put moderate Democrats on the spot on the controversial proposal spearheaded by progressive House freshman firebrands including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York.

The Democrats decided to have all members vote ‘present’ in order not to allow McConnell split the caucus. All Republicans voted against it.

When asked whether voting ‘present’ was a craven way out of casting a tough vote, both the offices of Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen argued that the two senators would welcome a good faith debate on climate change solutions, but McConnell had no intention of having that discussion.

“His legislative agenda from the last several years supports that view,” Cortez Masto spokesman Ryan King said of McConnell.

King also pointed to a Democratic proposal to create a bipartisan special committee to address climate change, which was blocked by McConnell on the Senate floor last week. Democrats went ahead anyway and named eight members, including Cortez Masto, to the panel.

“It’s clear that this was political theater by the majority leader that failed to do anything but highlight that Democrats are putting forward ideas to address the climate crisis, while Republicans have none,” King said.

Rosen echoed those comments.

“We need real action to address the challenge of climate change,” she said in a statement from her office. “This issue is too important for partisan games, and I refuse to play.”

While the two were united on the Green New Deal, Cortez Masto and Rosen split over the nomination of Judge Bridget Bade, who was confirmed Tuesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which is the appeals court for Nevada district courts.

Cortez Masto’s office said she opposed the nomination because the Republican leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee held her confirmation hearing during a recess with no Democrats present.

“Senate Republicans’ disregard for the process by which we assess judicial nominees and the lack of appropriate scrutiny and oversight were unacceptable, and as a result I voted no,” she said in a statement.

Bade was confirmed 78-21, with Democrats splitting 24-21 in favor.

“After reviewing Judge Bade’s record and finding her qualified, Senator Rosen supported her nomination on the Senate floor,” Rosen spokesman Jorge Silva said in an email.

Yucca Mountain

Congressional committees were busy last week scrutinizing Trump’s 2020 budget plan, which yielded talk of issues important to Nevada, including on building a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, military construction projects at Creech and Nellis that could see funding delays due to Trump’s emergency declaration and the president’s proposal to turn Medicaid into a block-grant program.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the appropriations panel that oversees the Department of Energy’s (DOE) budget, said he wants to break the stalemate this year over whether to move forward with the Yucca project.

“We need this year to decide what we’re going to do about Yucca Mountain,” Alexander said at a hearing Wednesday. “Either we’re going to build it or we’re not going to build it. We can’t just keep going on having a permanent stalemate and expect to have A, the products dealt with safely and B, to have any sort of nuclear industry in the United States.”

Nevada Democrats have pledged to block any legislation moving the project forward, taking up the opposition mantle from former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who led the charge before he retired in 2017 to keep the project from being funded.

The top Democrat on the panel, Dianne Feinstein of California, recommended that the panel move forward with a plan to build temporary storage facilities and allow private companies to own the facilities, which would require a change in federal law.

“We understand that a permanent disposal site is needed, whether Yucca or somewhere else, but interim storage is a reasonable first stop while we resolve what appear to be long-term issues,” Feinstein said.

And while DOE Secretary Rick Perry, who appeared at the hearing, agreed that interim nuclear waste storage would benefit from opening the door to the private sector, he argued that Yucca, which was designated in a 1987 law as the site for a national repository, needs to be activated in order to move the country forward on the nuclear waste issue.

“Yucca is at this point in time the site where high-level waste will go,” Perry said. “Until Congress decides to change that then that is where we are going to be stuck.”

Alexander pledged to work with Feinstein, Perry and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, who is chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on a plan “in the next couple of weeks.”

At a different hearing, Perry indicated the plan could be reached in as soon as two weeks.

Perry, a former governor of Texas, also noted that a privately owned site in Andrews County in West Texas had been willing to be considered as a permanent repository, but underscored the fact that building a repository at Yucca is stipulated under current federal law.

The Senate panel sought to provide funding for the Yucca Mountain project and for interim storage last year, but the language was dropped from the bill in negotiations with the House.

The president’s fiscal 2020 budget included $116 million to restart the licensing process to build a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Military construction

At a House Budget Committee hearing Wednesday, Horsford asked about $9 billion in emergency funds for the Pentagon that were included in the 2020 budget request that would be used to repay about $7.2 billion in funds that the White House wants to use to help build a wall on the southern border.

“Creech Air Force Base in our district is at risk of losing $59 million, Nellis Air Force Base is at risk of losing $5.9 million, and the National Guard Readiness Center in North Las Vegas is at risk of losing $32 million,” Horsford said.

Horsford asked Defense Department (DOD) Chief Financial Officer David Norquist if he could guarantee that those funds would not be used to fund the wall. Norquist could not provide a guarantee, but said he would try to respond in writing in the near future.

“I look forward to your response,” Horsford said.

But it’s unlikely that Norquist will definitely be able to rule out the Nevada projects before the DOD runs through its process for determining which projects will have funds diverted.

The DOD last week provided Congress a list of projects that could have funding redirected to wall funding, which included some of the projects Horsford named. Not all projects on the list would be affected under DOD’s criteria, which ruled out diverting funding from projects with award dates before Sept. 30, 2019, Norquist told Horsford.

Horsford asked “What’s the arbitrary standard with an award date?These are critical missions. As you know, Nellis Air Force Base, Creech Air Force Base provide some of the most critical military operations in our national security interests.”

Norquist said that projects with award dates before Sept. 30 would allow the project to continue without a gap in funding if the fiscal 2020 DOD spending bill is approved by that date.

Norquist also said that, beyond the award date, the role that projects play in military readiness would also be considered in deciding which projects would have funds diverted.

“The merits of that individual project would play a factor in the determination,” Norquist said.

The Department of Homeland Security sent a list earlier this week of border wall projects to DOD that could be funded with military construction dollars. Once DOD looks over the list, the secretary of defense will then make a decision which military construction projects to defer and that list will be provided to Congress, according to Norquist.

Medicaid

At a Budget Committee hearing Tuesday, Horsford asked the number two at the Department of Health and Human Services, Eric Hargan, about the fiscal 2020 budget, which proposed to spend $1.5 billion less over the next decade on Medicaid, a program on which more than 640,000 Nevadans rely.

Hargan explained the spending reduction by noting that $1.2 trillion in funds would be redirected from the current Medicaid program to block grants that will be sent to states to allow more flexibility and efficiency in the program.

Horsford said that the block grants don't work for Nevada, which has population growth. "It's not going to actually allow us to keep up with our health care needs."

He also questioned Hargan about Trump’s plan to eradicate HIV by 2030 and raised concerns about accomplishing it while cutting Medicaid.

"Medicaid is the single largest source of coverage for all Americans with HIV and this plan looks to gut the program,” Horsford said. “This will be detrimental in Nevada, which has the 7th highest population of individuals with HIV in the nation. Evidence shows that reducing federal funds through a per capita or block grant would limit Nevada’s ability to respond to public health crises such as the HIV epidemic or the opioid epidemic. Without Medicaid coverage 8,900 people living with HIV in Nevada will likely go without any care.”

Hargan said that the budget proposes spending $291 million in areas that account for 50 percent of new diagnoses. But he could not answer to Horsford’s satisfaction how the shift in Medicaid spending would affect Nevadans and others with HIV.

“I’ll look forward to getting more information, since it’s not very clear,” Horsford said.

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. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO
Legislation co-sponsored:
S. 949 – A bill to expand Americans' access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and for other purposes.
S. 932 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the tax-exempt financing of certain government-owned buildings.
S. 931 – A bill to provide a process for granting lawful permanent resident status to aliens from certain countries who meet specified eligibility requirements, and for other purposes.
S. 923 – A bill to provide a process for granting lawful permanent resident status to aliens from certain countries who meet specified eligibility requirements, and for other purposes.
S. 918 – A bill to prohibit the President or a Federal agency from constructing, operating, or offering wholesale or retail services on broadband networks without authorization from Congress, and for other purposes.
S. 886 – A bill to protect the voting rights of Native American and Alaska Native voters.
S. 879 – A bill to provide a process for granting lawful permanent resident status to aliens from certain countries who meet specified eligibility requirements, and for other purposes.
S. 878 – A bill to foster security in Taiwan, and for other purposes.
SEN. JACKY ROSEN
Legislation co-sponsored:
S. 949 – A bill to expand Americans' access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and for other purposes.
S. 948 – A bill to provide incentives to physicians to practice in rural and medically underserved communities, and for other purposes.
S. 944 – A bill to enhance the security operations of the Transportation Security Administration and the stability of the transportation security workforce by applying a unified personnel system under title 5, United States Code, to employees of the Transportation Security Administration who are responsible for screening passengers and property, and for other purposes.
S. 923 – A bill to provide a process for granting lawful permanent resident status to aliens from certain countries who meet specified eligibility requirements, and for other purposes.
S. 879 – A bill to provide a process for granting lawful permanent resident status to aliens from certain countries who meet specified eligibility requirements, and for other purposes.
REP. DINA TITUS
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 1981 – To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to prohibit payments under the Medicaid program for conversion therapy, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1968 – To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Shirley Chisholm.
H.R. 1882 – To increase the availability and affordability of menstrual hygiene products for individuals with limited access, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1869 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore incentives for investments in qualified improvement property.
H.R. 1857 – To establish in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the Department of State a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Peoples, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1854 – To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify the Food and Drug Administration's jurisdiction over certain tobacco products, and to protect jobs and small businesses involved in the sale, manufacturing, and distribution of traditional and premium cigars.
H.R. 1694 – To protect the voting rights of Native American and Alaska Native voters.
H.R. 1676 – To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand access to school-wide arts and music programs, and for other purposes.
REP. MARK AMODEI
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 1869 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore incentives for investments in qualified improvement property.
REP. SUSIE LEE
Legislation sponsored:
H.R. 1924 – To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide child care to veterans at Vet Centers in the same manner as the Secretary provides child care to veterans at other Department of Veterans Affairs facilities.
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 1968 – To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Shirley Chisholm.
H.R. 1944 – To require directors of medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to submit annual pamphlets to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the status of such facilities, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1884 – To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to improve affordability of, undo sabotage with respect to, and increase access to health insurance coverage, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1869 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore incentives for investments in qualified improvement property.
REP. STEVEN HORSFORD
Legislation sponsored:
H.R. 1974 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permanently extend the mine rescue team training credit.
Legislation co-sponsored:
H.R. 1980 – To establish in the Smithsonian Institution a comprehensive women's history museum, and for other purposes.
H.R. 1968 – To posthumously award a Congressional gold medal to Shirley Chisholm.
H.R. 1943 – To provide funding for Federally qualified health centers and the National Health Service Corps.
H.R. 1869 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore incentives for investments in qualified improvement property.