Daschle high on Nevada’s future

Friday, June 1, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

Nevada's fight against Yucca Mountain and a betting ban on college sports will gain support on Capitol Hill when the Democrats take control of the Senate next week, incoming Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Thursday.

The South Dakota Democrat told reporters the main reason for the stepped-up interest in Nevada is the rise in power of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who will be Daschle's assistant majority leader when Congress goes back to work Tuesday after the Memorial Day recess.

"He has probably more responsibility than any other assistant majority leader in our nation's history," Daschle said.

"What this means is it will allow us to put Nevada's agenda on the national agenda. This will give us an opportunity to work on issues import to Nevada, and I think that's the way it should be. I think we need to be cognizant of the issues of the West."

Daschle, in Las Vegas for a fund-raiser for Reid's 2004 re-election bid, said any legislative push to make Yucca Mountain the site of the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository will be stalled with the Democrats in control of the Senate.

"I think the Yucca Mountain issue is dead," Daschle said. "As long as we're in the majority, it's dead.

"I think that for the foreseeable future, until we can resolve all of the outstanding concerns about safety, we really don't believe there is a reason why it should go any further than it is right now."

Congress currently is not taking up any matters relating to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is preparing to recommend to President Bush next year whether the site is safe to store 77,000 tons of the nation's radioactive waste.

Nevada leaders are overwhelmingly opposed to storing the waste there.

Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn said this morning he was "ecstatic" over Daschle's comments.

"It give us all new hope," Guinn said. "With Daschle as the majority leader and Harry Reid as the No. 2 man, it gives us a great one-two punch for Nevada. It's very exciting."

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the state's Yucca Mountain watchdog, said he also was encouraged by Daschle's words.

"Having someone of the stature of the Senate majority leader saying Yucca Mountain is dead is incredibly helpful," Loux said.

Daschle didn't sound the same death knell for the NCAA-backed bill to ban betting on college sports. But he told reporters the measure, which recently came out of the Senate Commerce Committee with a 10-10 vote, is in trouble.

"I think that because it passed out of committee 10-10, that it's very likely that it's in for a rough road," Daschle said. "I'm opposed to it myself. I think we can convince the majority of senators to be opposed to it, as well."

American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf, the industry's chief Washington lobbyist, called Daschle's support "great news" in the industry's bitter fight with the NCAA.

"We are heartened by Sen Daschle's remarks," Fahrenkopf said. "But we're going to continue to work hard to educate members of the Senate and the House about the merits of the bill.

"I think the 10-10 vote did in fact convince a lot of senators that they really have to take a hard look at this on the merits, and if they do, I'm convinced that we will win."

Following his talk with reporters, Daschle attended the Reid fund-raiser at the Bali Hai Golf Club, where he made similar remarks supportive of Nevada's interests in Washington before jetting off to Los Angeles for another political fund-raising event.

Reid aides said the $1,000-a-head Las Vegas fund-raiser took in more than $500,000 for the senator's 2004 reelection campaign. Prominent members of the gaming and business community attended.

Daschle and Reid, longtime friends, were thrust into the limelight last week after they engineered a deal with Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt. to bolt from the Republican Party and give the Democrats a 50-49 majority. Jeffords is becoming an independent.

Before the fundraiser, Daschle told reporters that he hoped the power shift in the Senate will lead to a more bipartisan approach in Washington to the nation's problems.

"We need to create true bipartisanship," he said. "We need to find a way to ensure that both parties feel invested in the legislative agenda, and I believe we can do that."

Daschle said high on the Democratic agenda will be education, a patients bill of rights and prescription drug reform.