How your D.C. servants are spending their holiday

By Brian Eckhouse

Friday, July 4, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Congress took the week off for the July Fourth holiday.

Which causes us to wonder: How did the Nevada delegation spend the week?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday visited Ausra, the solar component manufacturer, and Nevada Partners, a North Las Vegas nonprofit group that helps people find work, where a room was named in his honor. On Tuesday, Reid toured the Southern Nevada Counter-Terrorism Center and Nellis Air Force Base, where he was inducted into the Civil Air Patrol. He was in Reno on Wednesday and again Thursday, in part to raise consciousness about wildfires, and plans to spend the weekend at home in Searchlight.

Sen. John Ensign, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is spending time with his family, a spokesman said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley squeezed in a trip to the annual Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City after attending an event at the Clark County Flood Control District on Monday to boost awareness of the upcoming flood season and before a luncheon Wednesday to greet the county’s new teachers. She plans to visit veterans today at U.S. Vets Inc., which helps former military members in need.

Rep. Jon Porter had more explicit campaigning on his schedule. He raised more than $75,000 Monday at a fundraiser at Roy’s restaurant, his spokesman said. On Tuesday he spoke before about 125 members of the Republican Men’s Club and hosted a telephone town hall conference with more than 3,000 constituents on gasoline prices and energy. He plans to spend today in Boulder City, flipping pancakes and attending the parade.

Rep. Dean Heller will be in his upstate district, visiting Ely, Elko and Reno, according to his spokesman, Stewart Bybee. Doing what, Bybee wouldn’t say.