The House-Senate split screen has been particularly stark this week — the House remains paralyzed on Day 16 without a speaker, while the Senate passed a resolution 97-0 condemning Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians and affirming Israel’s right to self-defense.

To read up on the House’s dysfunction, check out my stories from this week. To learn more about Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-NV) leadership on Israel policy, including her trip to Israel with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last weekend, read on.

Rosen talks Israel, Gaza

When news of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel first broke on Oct. 7, most senators were at home. Schumer was on a bipartisan congressional delegation trip to China, meeting with President Xi Jinping. 

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in American history, quickly changed his schedule, meeting four other senators in Israel for a trip replete with meetings with high-level Israeli officials and families of the deceased and kidnapped.

That Rosen was tapped for the trip demonstrates the former synagogue president’s high-ranking status on Israel policy. Rosen is the co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, a bipartisan group working to expand diplomatic relations between Israel and other nations in the Middle East. And she’s been outspoken on domestic antisemitism, leading a bipartisan task force to push for greater government efforts to target hate.

Rosen is one of nine Jewish senators. With the recent death of former Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), she is the only Jewish mother in the Senate, a fact she has invoked frequently while discussing her experiences joining Israeli mothers and fathers in their grief last weekend.

“Meeting with those parents whose children were ripped away from them by terrorists, hearing those stories, seeing the fear and pain in their eyes, feeling their heartbreak — I can just tell you that’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Rosen said Thursday in a press conference for Nevada-based outlets. 

Rosen — along with Schumer and Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz, who is serving as part of Israel’s wartime coalition government.

She said the group was forced to take shelter multiple times because of rocket fire.

“Our delegation experienced a fraction — just a fraction — of what Israeli families are experiencing every single day since these attacks began,” Rosen said.

Back in Washington, the Senate, having unanimously passed a resolution supporting Israel, is now planning to craft a supplemental funding package based on the Biden administration’s request.

The administration is expected to ask for $100 billion — the bulk of which is expected to go to Ukraine, with additional funds for Israel, Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border. Biden also announced plans to send $100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza for Palestinians who are subject to Israel’s blockade of electricity and mass displacement from Israeli air strikes.

Rosen said her work in the Senate has four aims — providing funding for Israel’s defense capabilities, including sending over Iron Dome batteries, sending humanitarian aid to “innocent people,” rescuing hostages being held by Hamas and ensuring Hamas is held accountable for the Oct. 7 attacks.

When asked about the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Rosen reiterated the need to send aid, but added that the war is a consequence of Hamas’ attack.

“We always have to do everything we can to protect people, to provide that humanitarian aid,” she said. “And we're trying to do just that. Israel is trying to do just that.”

While the Senate is expected to act quickly to take up the supplemental package, with the support of Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a strong backer of Ukraine, the House must resolve its speakership woes before any legislation can move forward.

Rosen, who served one term in the House from 2017 to 2019, when it was last under Republican control, is no stranger to the dysfunction that has embroiled the chamber. She said the House needs to either temporarily empower the speaker pro tempore or elect a speaker in order to take up the supplemental funding package.

“What I hope is that the House of Representatives stands up and realizes that they need to be the adult in the room,” Rosen said. “There's serious business that needs to happen, not just to protect the United States, but to protect people around the world.”

Around the Capitol

• Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) received the top ranking in Common Ground’s latest scorecard, which measures bipartisanship among elected officials, both in Congress and among governors. That means she is considered the elected official most likely to collaborate with Republicans, in this case, on legislation.
• The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is adding Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) to its Frontline program, designed to give extra resources to members at risk of losing their seats. Lee and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) are already members.
• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) commemorated the end of Hispanic Heritage Month by hosting Las Vegas High School Mariachi Joya, which performed for Cortez Masto and Rosen and toured the Capitol.
• Rosen and Cortez Masto joined a letter from Senate Democrats urging President Joe Biden to prioritize stopping the flow of fentanyl from the southern border in his supplemental funding request.
• Lee is getting good mileage on X out of a whiteboard “days since the House had a speaker” tracker.
• Rosen hung out with Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds.
• Horsford (D-NV)’s tie game has remained strong throughout the speaker votes this week — he’s posted a video on the House steps each day calling for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to be speaker with a different-colored tie each day.
• Rosen led a letter to House leadership asking for an extension of the Affordable Connectivity Program, which funds broadband services for low-income households, as more infrastructure money for broadband across the country goes out.
• After losing a bet to Lee on the WNBA Finals, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a New York Liberty supporter, will have to wear a Las Vegas Aces jersey on the House floor, following A’ja Wilson and Co.’s victory Wednesday.

Notable and Quotable:

“Republicans should try their luck at the roulette table instead of wasting time on the House floor. At least when they repeatedly lose there, it benefits Nevada.”

— Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), on Republican speaker nominees’ continual failures

Legislative Tracker

CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO

Legislation sponsored:

S.3079 — A bill to establish a policy regarding appraisal and valuation services for real property for a transaction over which the secretary of the interior has jurisdiction, and for other purposes.

Legislation co-sponsored:

S.Res.406 — A resolution to honor the life and death of Richard Clarence Clark, former senator for the state of Iowa.

S.3065 — A bill to provide counsel for unaccompanied children, and for other purposes.

S.Res.417 — A resolution standing with Israel against terrorism.

S.Res.420 — A resolution designating Betty K. Koed as historian emerita of the United States Senate.

S.3099 — A bill to require the secretary of energy to further develop and support the adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and inspection process for authorities having jurisdiction over the permitting of qualifying distributed energy systems, and for other purposes.

S.3101 — A bill to provide that members of the armed forces performing services in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad shall be entitled to tax benefits in the same manner as if such services were performed in a combat zone.

JACKY ROSEN

Legislation sponsored:

S.Res.408 — A resolution condemning Hamas for its premeditated, coordinated and brutal terrorist attacks on Israel and demanding that Hamas immediately release all hostages and return them to safety, and for other purposes.

Legislation co-sponsored:

S.Res.406 — A resolution to honor the life and death of Richard Clarence Clark, former senator for the state of Iowa.

S.3068 — A bill to require each enterprise to include on the Uniform Residential Loan application a disclaimer to increase awareness of the direct and guaranteed home loan programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

S.Res.417 — A resolution standing with Israel against terrorism.

S.Res.420 — A resolution designating Betty K. Koed as historian emerita of the United States Senate.

DINA TITUS

Legislation sponsored:

H.Res.800 — Congratulating the Las Vegas Aces for winning the 2023 Women's National Basketball Association Finals.

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.Res.793 — Calling on Hamas to immediately release hostages taken during the October 2023 attack on Israel.

H.R.5983 — To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to restore a national minimum standard of protection for the water resources of the United States while providing certainty to regulated entities.

MARK AMODEI

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.Res.793 — Calling on Hamas to immediately release hostages taken during the October 2023 attack on Israel.

SUSIE LEE

Legislation sponsored:

H.R.5997 — To require the secretary of energy to further develop and support the adoption of a voluntary streamlined permitting and inspection process for authorities having jurisdiction over the permitting of qualifying distributed energy systems, and for other purposes.

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.Res.800 — Congratulating the Las Vegas Aces for winning the 2023 Women's National Basketball Association Finals.

H.Res.793 — Calling on Hamas to immediately release hostages taken during the October 2023 attack on Israel.

STEVEN HORSFORD

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.Res.800 — Congratulating the Las Vegas Aces for winning the 2023 Women's National Basketball Association Finals.