Washington memo: Immigration, sage grouse get attention of Nevada delegation on Capitol Hill

By Amber Phillips

Friday, Jan. 16, 2015 | 10:12 a.m.

WASHINGTON — Congress' second week of the year had a slightly more contentious tone than its first.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans voted to roll back President Barack Obama's immigration reforms that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants in the country. (Nevada Republicans didn't agree with getting rid of everything.)

In the slower-moving Senate, leaders met with Obama and continued debate on the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Lawmakers cut their week short to attend policy retreats for their respective parties. But Nevada's congressional leaders still had a busy few days. Here's a look at their week:

Sen. Harry Reid monitors events from home

Still recovering from a New Year's Day exercise accident that has at least temporarily cost him vision in his right eye, Sen. Harry Reid worked from his apartment in Washington, D.C., for the second week of Congress.

A Senate Democratic aide said Reid could return as soon as next week, pending the 75-year-old's doctor's orders. Aides also made clear the Senate minority leader was still involved in day-to-day decisions for his party: He has a phone line hooked up to participate in Senate Democrats' retreat in Baltimore, CQ Roll Call reported, and had an aide attend congressional leaders' meeting with Obama this week.

Also this week, his staff announced that downtown North Las Vegas will receive $450,000 from Department of Housing and Urban Affairs to revitalize an area containing two run-down apartment complexes.

Sen. Dean Heller introduces a flurry of bills

Republican Sen. Dean Heller is setting the stage for his first significant period of time as a legislator in the majority. Here's a handful of bills he released this week:

He also continued Nevada delegation's fight with the administration's impending decision on whether to list the sage grouse as an endangered species; a listing that could damage Northern Nevada's economy. Heller introduced a bill calling for "more transparency" about the Fish and Wildlife Service's court-ordered decision, which could come as soon as September.

Heller also called for "more transparency" in how the Environmental Protection Agency issues regulations on energy sources such as coal and gas. These proposals are in addition to bills he introduced last week to let Nevadans deduct their state and local sales tax on federal income taxes and to force Congress to pass a full budget.

Rep. Dina Titus blasts House vote on immigration

Rep. Dina Titus, a Las Vegas Democrat, stood alone among Nevada's four House members in opposing Republicans' attempts to roll back Obama's immigration actions.

She criticized Nevada's three Republican House lawmakers for supporting immigration reform as they voted against Obama's latest changes to the system.

Titus also spent the week championing veterans affairs policies. Over the weekend, she spoke at a Student Veterans of America conference about proposals she plans to push this Congress to increase STEM education for veterans. On Monday she spoke in support of a bill to help prevent suicide among veterans, saying the suicide rate among Nevada's veterans "is staggering."

Rep. Mark Amodei focuses on lands issues

Republican Rep. Mark Amodei is making clear that one of his top priorities is to have a bigger say in how the federal government manages large swaths of land in his Northern Nevada district.

Amodei announced this week he switched seats on the powerful Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings for 12 federal government agencies and their programs. He now sits on a panel overseeing the Department of the Interior, which manages more than 80 percent of Nevada's land.

The position sets him up to direct what the department can spend for in a fiscal year on sage grouse, water rights and wildlife conservation.

Rep Joe Heck and Heller try again to pass bill for searches on federal land

Republican Rep. Joe Heck, of suburban Las Vegas, partnered with Heller in the Senate to revive a bill that would make it easier for rescuers to search federal land for missing people. The bill has its roots in a 2013 tragedy where volunteer search teams waited almost a year before finding the bodies of Keith Goldberg and Air Force Staff Sergeant Antonio Tucker near Lake Mead.

Heck and Heller introduced the proposal last Congress, where it passed without any opposition in the House of Representatives but didn't advance in the Senate.

Heck was also featured in the Military Times for leading a growing group of Capitol Hill lawmakers with recent wartime experience. Heck is a brigadier general in the Army Reserve and an Iraq War veteran.

Rep. Cresent Hardy takes his first tough vote

Nevada's newest member of Congress, Republican Rep. Cresent Hardy, had little more than a week after being sworn in to prepare for his first controversial vote: a decision on whether to defund Obama's immigration actions as part of a homeland security funding bill.

Hardy joined Nevada's two other Republicans in splitting his vote on which programs to defund, saying he doesn't want to pull the rug out from undocumented immigrants already afforded protections.

Hardy said he's also preparing for upcoming committee work. The lone Nevada lawmaker on the House's natural resources committee he said he's spoken with Republican leaders about his priority to try to give Nevada more say over its federal land. He declined to give specifics.

Hardy's staff also set up a Facebook account: