Heller only Nevada legislator to vote against $700 billion bailout

Says more oversight needed on bill

Published Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | 10:49 a.m.

Updated Friday, Oct. 3, 2008 | 11:40 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Dean Heller voted against the $700 billion bailout package today in the House, the only member of the Nevada delegation to vote no.

The House erupted in a cheer at 1:20 pm as it became clear the measure was headed toward passage.

Republican Rep. Jon Porter and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley both voted yes. Earlier this week in the Senate, both Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign and Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader voted in support.

Heller had earlier said the proposal bordered on socialism, but has declined this week to discuss his vote.

Heller issued a statement saying he opposed the bill because he believes the plan needs more oversight of taxpayer funds.

"The core of this legislation is still flawed and puts Nevada’s taxpayer on the hook to pay for a massive bailout of Wall Street," Heller's statement said.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By Envirodoc007

10/3/08 at 11:25 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By revtomperl

10/3/08 at noon

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one got it right - maybe far right?
By KDR81

10/3/08 at 1:07 p.m.

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Good for Heller, the only one to get it right.
By texexnv

10/3/08 at 2:37 p.m.

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Here's a short list of what Heller said "No" to that Boss Reid and Berkley said "Yes" to:

Increase in Limit on Cover Over of Rum Excise Tax Revenues (from $10.50 to $13.25 per proof gallon) to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (sunset 12/31/09) $192,000,000
Economic development credit for American Samoa (sunset 12/31/09) $33,000,000
Deduction allowable with respect to income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico (sunset 12/31/09) $243,000,000
Extension and modification of credit to holders of qualified zone academy bonds - allocations of bond authority (sunset 12/31/09) $379,000,000
Indian employment tax credit (sunset 12/31/09). $119,000,000
Accelerated depreciation for business property on Indian reservations (sunset 12/31/09) $295,000,000
50% tax credit for certain expenditures for maintaining railroad tracks; permit credit against the AMT $331,000,000
7-year recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities $100,000,000
Expensing of "Brownfields" environmental remediation costs $357,000,000
Work opportunity tax credit for Hurricane Katrina employees $29,000,000
Extension of increased rehabilitation credit for structures in the GO Zone $50,000,000
Enhanced charitable deduction for qualified computer contributions $356,000,000
Tax Incentives for Investment in the District of Columbia $179,000,000
Tax treatment of certain income received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation (3-year income averaging with maximum retirement plan contribution of up to $100,000 $49,000,000
Reduce the recovery period for certain farming business machinery or equipment from seven to five years +$7,000,000
Modification of penalty on understatement of taxpayer's liability by tax return preparer $22,000,000
Parity in mental health and substance use disorder benefits $3,900,000,000
Provisions relating to film and television productions $397,000,000
Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wood
duty refunds $148,000,000
Exemption of excise tax on certain wooden arrows designed for use by children $2,000,000
Credit to holders of Midwestern tax credit bia 12/31/08 & bonds $152,000,000
Extend enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of book inventory $49,000,000
15-year straight line cost recovery for qualified leasehold, restaurant and retail improvements and new restaurants $8,721,000,000
By avatar

10/3/08 at 4:39 p.m.

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The government reported employers cut 159,000 jobs last month, the ninth straight month of job losses.

Looks more and more like the R word. Recession.

Washington will never get it.
By KeepNVStrong

10/3/08 at 9:53 p.m.

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Trust Dean to get it totally wrong for Nevada.

The Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 should have been called the Nevada Boom Act of 2008. The bill includes the much-needed 8-year extension of the tax policies for solar power, a 2-year renewal of the geothermal tax policies, and a 1-year renewal of the wind tax policies.

BLM Las Vegas has applications for well over $50B of future solar projects to be built in southern Nevada. With casino and residential construction way off, it's gonna be great having some big construction projects that also give us stable electricity prices.

Probably this ain't enough to stave off recession country-wide, but it's one huge shot in the arm for Nevada.

Maybe Dean prefers the recession option.
By jfnance32

10/3/08 at 11:37 p.m.

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In ten years when Solar and wind boom will be done then our electric bills will double.

The brand new state-of-art Solar One project generates power at 2.4x's the current price of energy.

Hold onto your wallets....we are getting sucker into another Democratic scam, like the sub-prime give every minority a house scam that we are now paying for.
By texexnv

10/4/08 at 9:15 a.m.

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I suppose NVStrong is elated because none of this orgy is actually PAID for...it was just added to the national debt.

What we witnessed - and Heller was the ONLY NevaDUHan to oppose it - was a mob smashing the windows and breaking into the U.S. Treasury to loot a TRILLION dollars in the last month.

Oh, Goodie! Goodie! We stole some wind turbines while Wall Street drove off in new Rolls Royces.

Excuse me while I hurl here.
By tokaloshe

10/4/08 at 5:37 p.m.

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You gotta love that maverick heller, hey dean,
just could'nt get on board with that one eh?
Heres an idea,
I say we boost the whole thing up to 3 trillion,
everyone gets a new house not just minorities, and, throw in a home equity line of credit because everyones gonna want to do improvements, besides home depot has needed a boost since 06.
I don't want to hear anybody say my grandchildren will have to pay for this, (like you really care about how much money they will have) besides they can charge the whole thing to their grandchildren, who do you think is paying for social security today? not grandparents i'll tell you that.
Don't get me wrong the three trillion is just to get the party going we'll need more later
because the people who administer the program will have to have oversight, and the people who do the oversight are the ones i am really worried about, (honest people are expensive, so we'll need another trillion just for that).
So, better go pick out your new McMansion because with demand coming prices are going up friends!