On the Record: Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus
Editor's Note: This is one in a series of "On the Record" pieces highlighting the policy stances of candidates running for major offices in the 2022 Nevada election. Click here for more information on the policy positions of Titus’s opponent, Mark Robertson.
Five-term incumbent Rep. Dina Titus is no stranger to campaign season, but her re-election bid this year against Republican challenger Mark Robertson is more competitive than in past years after redistricting changed the boundaries of Nevada’s Congressional District 1.
District 1 includes the heart of Las Vegas and now extends into Henderson and Boulder City, which added more Republican voters to the once safely blue district. Before redistricting, District 1 had more than 147,000 registered Democrats and fewer than 66,000 registered Republicans. September voter registration statistics showed District 1 has 155,315 active registered Democrats and 112,245 Republicans.
The Cook Political Report has classified this year’s District 1 race as a “toss up,” adding it to the list of competitive contests in Nevada that could determine control of Congress.
Despite the increase in Republican voters, Titus told The Nevada Independent that she and her team have been campaigning “all over” the district — parts of which she represented as a state legislator.
Titus hasn’t been shy about expressing her displeasure with the redrawn district. Her concerns, she said, are that redistricting made three of the four congressional seats more competitive and that District 1 was broken up in a way that it “no longer has a cohesive set of issues or values.”
As for CD1, Titus said the new boundaries divided the Hispanic community and that the new district will become disproportionately Republican over the coming decade as the population grows.
Titus said that her priorities, if re-elected, would lie in strengthening infrastructure (she serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee), maintain the recovery trajectory in the tourism and hospitality industries, addressing climate change and preserving the environment — including efforts to turn Avi Kwa Ame, an area that includes Spirit Mountain in the southern part of Clark County, into a national monument.
“I think this is a time when you need experienced, compassionate representation. I have been representing the people of Nevada for a while — through thick and thin, through good times and bad,” she said. “[People] know where I stand, because I don't beat around the bush. And I hope that even if we disagree on one issue, we can find another issue to work together … So I'd like the opportunity to go back and kind of finish the recovery that we've already started.”
Below is a summary of Titus’s interview with The Nevada Independent.
Economy
Most economic experts say rising inflation comes from a combination of sources, including federal pandemic stimulus and relief aid, but Titus said the tradeoff was worth it.
According to a September inflation report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices climbed far more quickly than expected — 8.2 percent.
“Inflation is caused by the spending only a small bit. It's also caused by supply chain problems, the war in Ukraine,” Titus said, noting that it’s a problem affecting markets around the world. “If we hadn't spent that money to give loans to small businesses, to give unemployment extension to people out of work … we would have had unemployment, then, like a Great Depression.”
Nevada’s unemployment rate peaked at 28 percent in April 2020. As of August, the state’s unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 percent, similar to the rate in early 2019.
The minimum wage in Nevada rose this summer to $10.50 an hour for workers who are not offered qualifying health insurance, and to $9.50 an hour for those who are offered health benefits. By 2024, the minimum wage will reach $12 an hour for those not offered insurance, and $11 for those who are. In November, Nevadans will vote on a ballot measure that would set a flat rate of $12 per hour — starting July 1, 2024 — regardless of health insurance, which Titus said she supports.
Federal COVID-19 relief aid also went to K-12 education, which has raised concerns that the one-time infusion will hurt schools when the money runs dry. Titus said that there is ongoing federal funding for education already established, although not as large as the COVID relief aid.
But improving public education is a combined effort from the federal, state and local levels, she said.
“It's not just the federal hand reaching down saying what else should be done, because school districts vary and schools themselves vary from neighborhood to neighborhood,” Titus said. “The thing to remember, though, is that the school is the anchor of a neighborhood. And the better it is, the stronger the neighborhood becomes.”
Since March, the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates in an attempt to tame inflation, but that move has created fears that if it raises rates too aggressively, it could dampen economic growth and trigger a recession. For now, Titus said, Nevada’s continued economic and job growth proves the state is not in a recession.
“I would continue a lot of the things that we have done,” she said, adding that the Inflation Reduction Act was a “good step” to continue investing in infrastructure, environmental efforts, and affordable health care, which aims to create jobs and lower costs.
Titus has also supported the gas tax holiday to lower gas prices, but Nevada law establishes that the state’s fuel tax would automatically increase by the exact amount of any reduction at the federal level. Titus said she does not believe the gas tax holiday contradicts Nevada law as it is a temporary relief, arguing that Nevada law addresses a permanent reduction.
She suggested that to reduce gas prices, the country should work toward not relying as much on Saudi Arabia, which is the largest petroleum exporter to the United States, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. In 2021, the U.S. share of petroleum imports was about 11 percent and 13 percent for crude oil imports — Saudi Arabia was the source of 5 percent of the country’s total petroleum imports and 6 percent of crude oil imports.
Housing
In regard to a lack of affordable housing, Titus said the problem “isn't anything new.”
She said pandemic-era legislation that helped subsidize mortgage and rent payments and enacted eviction restrictions was “very important to do.” The congresswoman also commended Gov. Steve Sisolak’s Home Means Nevada initiative, which invests $500 million to lower the cost and boost the availability of housing.
One of the problems, she said, is corporations that buy homes in neighborhoods to turn them into short term rentals, “which takes them off the market” for others.
“That's certainly something that needs to be looked at,” she said.
Titus added that there should be provisions for when housing developers buy public land to build affordable housing “in exchange for access to public lands.” She also suggested offering investors and developers some kind of tax break program so they can focus more on affordable housing.
Environment and climate change
Lake Mead dropped to a historically low level earlier this year. Between the infrastructure package and Inflation Reduction Act, Congress has approved billions of dollars to address water infrastructure and drought issues, primarily in the Southwest.
As for water-saving measures, Titus said she does not believe desalinization would be a good solution as it “would cost a lot of money,” and the proposed idea of bringing water to Southern Nevada from elsewhere would have various implications and jurisdictional problems.
“I think [climate change] is existential. If we don't do something about it now, it'll be too late. We don't have a very big window to start making changes,” she said. “One thing that I'd like to see us do is do away with single-use plastic.”
Looking at the big picture, though, she said she would like the country to move away from fossil fuels to more sustainable energy, such as wind or solar, and people should be encouraged and rewarded to make those changes.
She said that if Republicans take control of Congress, they would “roll back” many of the clean energy provisions and regulations already in place.
Immigration
Polling shows that immigration does not seem to be among voter’s top concerns, but Titus said “immigration has to be totally overhauled.”
“Republicans’ idea of immigration reform is to build a wall. I've never seen a wall somebody couldn't climb over or crawl under,” she said. “And that's just not a humane way to deal with the issue.”
While immigration is a complex issue, Titus said the delegation needs to first address the people who are already in the country, including those under the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status.
“People can't really function to their fullest potential if they don't know what their status is. That needs to be resolved,” she said. “It needs to be reformed top to bottom. But I would start with Dreamers and TPS, because that's a piece you can deal with, perhaps more easily, those people are already here. Let's take care of that and then try to get some sense for the rest.”
She said that she doesn't “support an open border” but does not believe the best way to handle immigration is by building a wall.
Republicans have called the situation at the southern border a crisis. Titus said the country is facing a lot of crises — not just at the border.
“I think we need a strong border. We need to put more funding into training for border officers. We need more high-tech equipment to detect what is coming across the border,” she said. “But you also need to invest in those who are coming for asylum with more courts of asylum or judges to deal with asylum cases, so they can be resolved more rapidly.”
She also suggested investing in countries, such as El Salvador, where people are coming from. Titus believes that if the United States helped build up those economies, the people would have jobs and would be less likely to feel the need to immigrate.
Foreign affairs
Titus said she supports the Biden administration’s approach to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
“Russia is not our friend … And Ukraine has kind of become a symbol there of European resistance,” she said. “And it's not just Ukraine. It's Poland. It's Hungary. It's the countries around there that we need to support and these are our friends. These are our allies.”
She also supports the decision to not send troops to assist Ukraine, while sending other humanitarian and military aid. She said she would change her mind if Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the defense alliance made up of 30 member nations.
Titus gave President Joe Biden an “A” grade for his performance in the past 21 months, but “an incomplete” to see what’s to come in his term.
