Karoun Demirjian

Story Archive

Horsford expected to make full recovery from cardiac surgery: Monday, July 1, 2013; U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford underwent cardiac surgery Monday to address an unspecified hereditary condition, a spokesman for the Nevada representative announced.
Student loan doomsday has arrived, but can Congress fix it?: Monday, July 1, 2013; Student loan interest rates double today, but Congress could still reach a deal to prevent the increase from hitting students' pocketbooks.
Immigration bill heads to hostile House of Representatives: Friday, June 28, 2013; Senate hopes a tough border security amendment will be enough to win over House Republicans who vocally hostile to the immigration bill now headed their way.
With butterflies and yet-to-be fulfilled hopes, Nevada Dreamers watch immigration vote: Friday, June 28, 2013; Two Nevada immigrants brought to the country illegally as children watched as the Senate voted to pass a comprehensive immigration law that would give them and millions of other immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Senate passes historic immigration bill 68-32: Thursday, June 27, 2013; The Senate has passed historic immigration legislation offering the hope of American citizenship to millions, while promising a military-style surge to secure the border. The vote was 68-32, eight more than needed to send the measure to the House. Prospects there are not nearly as good and many conservatives are opposed. To mark the occasion, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ordered the Senate to take that vote in one of the most ceremonial fashions at its disposal: a seated vote.
Nevada same-sex couples still in limbo after Supreme Court rulings: Thursday, June 27, 2013; Catching the Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling meant it would be a very early morning for at least three Nevada couples. But after sharing in those a few moments of euphoria, it was back to life as normal: Breakfast to make, kids to get dressed, and a court battle to fight. “It was bittersweet,” Tara Newberry explained. “On the one hand, there’s federal recognition now. ... But unfortunately to us here in Nevada, it didn’t really change anything.”
With border security addressed, Heller gets behind immigration bill: Wednesday, June 26, 2013; Nevada Sen. Dean Heller finally committed to the immigration bill he’d been hinting he’d support Wednesday afternoon, warning that “to do nothing now amounts for de facto amnesty.”
Reid vows quick work on rewriting Voting Rights Act after court decision: Wednesday, June 26, 2013; When it struck down a key provision in the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, the Supreme Court sent Congress a challenge: If racial discrimination is still a problem at the ballot box, come up with a better law to combat it.
List of amendments is last step before immigration vote, but Reid says, 'I don’t know if we can do it': Tuesday, June 25, 2013; All that stands between the Senate and a final immigration vote this week are a series of amendments. But how many? And which ones? So far, congressional leaders haven’t been able to settle that nagging question.
Key milestone reached advancing immigration bill in Senate: Monday, June 24, 2013; Fifteen minutes into the vote on a sweeping border security amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform legislation, it was clear senators had secured the 60 votes they would need to carry the measure.
Vote today in Senate crucial to passage of immigration reform: Monday, June 24, 2013; The fate of the Senate's immigration bill likely comes down to a vote today. If it fails, it will all but guarantee that immigration reform is dead. If it passes, it will all but ensure a clear path to the finish line in the Senate.
VA clears most of Nevada's backed-up benefits claims, which prompts questions: Friday, June 21, 2013; Nevada’s delegation is applauding the Department of Veterans’ Affairs news that it has cleared all but 49 of the Nevada benefits claims that had been kicking around the process for two years or more.
Heller emerges as key player in brokering 'breakthrough' deal on immigration bill: Friday, June 21, 2013; Since he won his Senate seat in the 2012 election, Nevada Sen. Dean Heller has been saying that he wanted to play a central role in crafting comprehensive immigration reform.
Heck cites frustration in vote against farm bill his party endorsed: Thursday, June 20, 2013; Nevada Rep. Joe Heck joined 61 of his Republican colleagues Thursday in voting to defeat the GOP-endorsed Farm Bill, quashing efforts to make massive cuts to the food stamp program.
Heller ‘looking very favorably’ on immigration reform bill: Thursday, June 20, 2013; Nevada Sen. Dean Heller still won’t completely commit to being a “yes” vote for comprehensive immigration reform. But if the Senate adopts a new compromise on border security, he can’t see much of anything that would keep him from voting for the bill.
House Republicans take aim at food stamps; some Democrats, including those from Nevada, try to fend them off: Thursday, June 20, 2013; As the House of Representatives takes up its version of the Farm Bill, it’s clear that food stamps are going to be one of the most contentious issues on the floor.
Sen. Heller: Keep mortgage forgiveness debt relief tax-free: Wednesday, June 19, 2013; Senators from two of the nation’s states hit hardest by the bursting of the housing bubble are trying to make sure Congress extends mortgage forgiveness tax relief for at least another two years.
Nevada gets seat on Southern Border Security Commission: Wednesday, June 19, 2013; The Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve Nevada as an additional member to the immigration bill’s Southern Border Security Commission, despite the fact that the Silver State doesn’t actually share a border with Mexico.
Reid says Washington, D.C., deserves to become a state: Wednesday, June 19, 2013; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid already presides over a body of 100 senators. But he wouldn’t mind if two more join the fold.
Yerington land swap bill getting more love in Senate than House: Tuesday, June 18, 2013; Back in February, the Nevada delegation agreed that the best way to get the Lyon County land swap legislation through Congress was to have the House of Representatives act on it first.
In partisan vote, House opts for new abortion limits: Tuesday, June 18, 2013; The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to ban abortions after 20 weeks, with the Nevada delegation split down the party line.
Budget office: Immigration bill would not add to federal deficit: Tuesday, June 18, 2013; The Congressional Budget Office determined late Tuesday that the Senate’s immigration bill will not add to the federal deficit in the short or the long term, enervating one of the most powerful arguments against passing immigration reform and giving Democrats something to crow about.
On immigration reform, D.C. has a House divided: Tuesday, June 18, 2013; As the Senate tries to muster a bipartisan compromise on comprehensive immigration reform, inter-party camaraderie in the House is headed for a breakdown.
GOP threatens to build Yucca if Reid kills filibuster: Tuesday, June 18, 2013; Sen. Harry Reid has long been warning Republicans he has the power to get his agenda around their “nay” votes by curtailing the procedural filibuster.
Report: Immigration bill cuts deficit by $197 billion in 10 years: Tuesday, June 18, 2013; The Congressional Budget Office has determined that the Senate’s immigration bill will not add to the federal deficit in the short or the long term, curbing a powerful argument against passing immigration reform.
GOP bill would feed new funding to stalled Yucca Mountain project: Monday, June 17, 2013; The annual federal fiscal fight over Yucca Mountain is on once again, now that House Republicans have released their annual appropriations proposal for fiscal 2014.
Dealmaker Reid says no one in D.C. will play along, but would they?: Sunday, June 16, 2013; Legislation, as Sen. Harry Reid often says, is the art of compromise. But lately, Reid is not in a compromising mood. “Who would I negotiate with?” Reid said in an interview with the Sun last week, when asked about his recently expressed reticence to parley with Republicans over how to keep student loan rates from rising on July 1, an issue on which Republicans and Reid’s Democrats differ. “I don’t know of anyone. I’m serious about that. I don’t know of anyone.”
Rep. Heck's House seat among those poised for a fight in '14: Sunday, June 16, 2013; In 2014, Nevada’s highest elections are races for the House of Representatives, and among them, experts are predicting a knock-down, drag-out fight in only the 3rd Congressional District.
Senate nearly votes on Heller's Nevada immigration amendment: Thursday, June 13, 2013; Sen. Dean Heller’s amendment to include Nevada on the immigration bill’s Southern Border Security Commission almost got its day on the Senate floor Thursday, when Sen. Harry Reid suggested the Senate vote to approve it.
Heller's immigration bill amendments aim to help Las Vegas tourism: Thursday, June 13, 2013; Nevada Sen. Dean Heller is being widely praised in the tourism community for submitting two amendments to the Senate’s immigration bill to better define and streamline a proposed entry-exit system for the country’s top 10 airports for international travelers.
Harry Reid vows to push ahead on gun control: Thursday, June 13, 2013; As Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval on Thursday vetoed a state bill to require background checks for all firearm purchases, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid was trying to breathe new life into stalled congressional negotiations to revive gun control at the federal level.
Heck's mine-cleanup, search-and-rescue bills clear committee: Wednesday, June 12, 2013; Two more Nevada public lands bills are one step closer to consideration by the full House of Representatives, after the Natural Resources Committee green-lighted Rep. Joe Heck’s bills to effect a cleanup of an abandoned mine in Henderson and streamline search-and-rescue efforts on public lands.
In immigration debate, familiar signs of strain resurface: Wednesday, June 12, 2013; After a promisingly bipartisan start to immigration reform Tuesday, senators retreated to either side of the party line Wednesday, trading procedural barbs that prevented lawmakers from voting on amendments.
Titus, House Dems push for immigration reform for 'mommies and daddies': Wednesday, June 12, 2013; As the Senate debates a comprehensive immigration reform bill, the House of Representatives is fighting a partisan battle over President Barack Obama’s stopgap measure, a program to defer deportations for young undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children.
Nevada senators want more clout on border security: Wednesday, June 12, 2013; Nevada’s senators have registered their first official complaint with the Senate’s immigration bill: it doesn’t give Nevada enough say about the southern border strategy.
Immigration reform off to the races, but high hurdles ahead: Tuesday, June 11, 2013; Immigration reform is off to the races in the Senate with the wind at its back, if Tuesday’s two opening procedural votes are any indicator. The Senate voted 82-15 early Tuesday to advance the immigration reform bill and 84-15 a few hours later to take up the legislation.
Reid: Lawmakers were informed about phone, Internet snooping: Tuesday, June 11, 2013; Since reports that the government is keeping records on the country’s phone and Internet traffic broke last week, Sen. Harry Reid has been downplaying the revelations’ shock value, advising that the nation should “just calm down.”
Nevada leaders take active role in confronting military sexual assaults: Monday, June 10, 2013; Congress is scrambling to take a stand against the military’s sexual assault crisis with legislative action, and Nevada’s representatives have been employing a variety of means to make sure their proposed solutions are part of the response.
Reid is gearing up for onslaught of 'poison pill' amendments to immigration bill: Monday, June 10, 2013; The fate of comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate now rests in whether it can withstand a march of nittier, grittier tests posed by amendments. How Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allows lawmakers to present those amendments may determine whether the next three weeks resemble an obstacle course or a minefield.
Reid: NSA phone-tracking shouldn't stand in the way of cyber security legislation: Friday, June 7, 2013; Recent revelations that the government has been closely monitoring the Internet and phone traffic of U.S. citizens aren't deterring congressional leaders from their plans to push cyber security legislation.
Reid says House bill to legalize online gambling hurts online poker efforts: Friday, June 7, 2013; If the gaming market hadn’t already largely determined it, the Senate Majority Leader confirmed it Friday: The era of online poker in Congress is essentially over.
For clean energy summit, a national focus through state initiatives: Thursday, June 6, 2013; Sen. Harry Reid and John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress, said Thursday the upcoming sixth annual National Energy Summit in Las Vegas would yield innovative ideas to improve the sustainability and resilience of the national energy grid.
Reid on reaction to furor over phone records: 'Just calm down': Thursday, June 6, 2013; Interest groups, political observers and private citizens spent Thursday up in arms over revelations that the U.S. government has been collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers for years. But Sen. Harry Reid wasn’t ruffled by the news. “Right now I think everyone should just calm down and understand that this isn’t brand new,” Reid said. “It’s been going on for some seven years.”
House votes to defund deferred action for young undocumented immigrants: Thursday, June 6, 2013; Starting Friday, Congress will debate the comprehensive immigration reform bill that lawmakers hope will finally settle questions of status for millions of undocumented immigrants. But not without a parting shot from the House.
Reid challenges GOP to find a way to pay for student loan rate fix: Thursday, June 6, 2013; Now that the Senate has rejected both party’s proposals to stave off a hike in student loan rates, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doubling down on Republicans
Horsford, Heck press for Las Vegas counterterrorism funding in House budget: Wednesday, June 5, 2013; Nevada’s pro-tourism representatives in D.C. made the case on Wednesday that Las Vegas should continue to receive the most counterterrorism funding possible.
Student loan rates the next fight on D.C. lawmakers' agenda: Wednesday, June 5, 2013; High school graduations begin this week in Nevada, and seniors will be unleashed to pursue post-secondary plans, which for many, include a turn through college. As graduates collect their diplomas, lawmakers in Washington will be working to try to guarantee them a more affordable chance to continue their education.
Reid praises Lautenberg's public service, sense of humor: Monday, June 3, 2013; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eulogized New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died today at age 89.
Expect D.C. lawmakers to rev up immigration reform debate this week: Monday, June 3, 2013; D.C. lawmakers don’t know when the debate will begin, and they don’t know yet how much the bill they are debating will cost. But in Congress, one thing is for sure: In the month between now and Independence Day, Congress will be all but exclusively focused on immigration reform.
Effort to clear VA backlog isn't enough to appease Nevada lawmakers: Monday, May 27, 2013; The Veterans Administration’s new effort to expedite the claims backlogged for a year or more is likely to help many veterans in Nevada, where it takes veterans an average of 17 months to get their benefits. But that isn’t a complete enough solution for Nevada’s delegation.