Technically, the 119th Congress does not start until 2025 — but you’d be forgiven for not realizing that after this week. President-elect Donald Trump is making last-minute demands of Republicans in Congress, a bipartisan deal got thrown out the window, a brief government shutdown and in the middle of it all is Elon Musk, threatening to fund primary challengers to uncooperative members of both parties.
But until the new Congress is sworn in after the start of the new year, we are still in the 118th Congress. And in the spirit of the holidays, the Nevada delegation did get some last-minute legislative gifts this season while also knowing they’ll need to punt a few of their big ticket priorities to next year’s wish list.
The News of the Week: Last-minute victories, final defeats
Several bills bearing Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-NV), Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-NV) and Rep. Susie Lee’s (D-NV) name passed through Congress at the buzzer this week, either already signed into law by the president or in the queue for his signature.
Despite all the chaos in the House, it was a good week for Lee, who had four land-related bills signed into law or make it through both chambers of Congress. Those are:
• A bill that would expand the boundary of Sloan Canyon National contract with the Department of the Interior in any state)
• A bill that would expand the boundary of Sloan Canyon National The Good Samaritan Act (allows good samaritans to remediate abandoned hardrock mine sites)
• A bill that would expand the boundary of Sloan Canyon National The BOLT Act (directs the Department of Interior to identify new long-distance bike trails and create more maps and signage for them)
• A bill that would expand the boundary of Sloan Canyon National The PARC Act (allows climbing on wilderness lands)
These were all passed by voice vote unanimously — not a bad way to close out the session!
Meanwhile, two Rosen bills that had already passed the Senate received votes in the House. One, the No Corruption Act, passed unanimously by voice vote. That one (looking at you, former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)!) prevents members of Congress who have been convicted of a crime from collecting their pensions.
The second, the Never Again Education Act, reauthorizes a program Rosen initially wrote into law several years ago to provide training and resources to educators teaching students about the Holocaust. That one passed 402-12, with the opposition coming only from hardline Republicans.
And finally, Cortez Masto had two of her public lands bills pass the full Senate by unanimous consent. But they’ll likely die in the House, given the chaos consuming the lower chamber this week. Those are:
• A bill that would expand the boundary of Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area and permit the Southern Nevada Water Authority to construct a new water pipeline to serve Henderson, running through Sloan Canyon
• A bill that would expand the boundary of Sloan Canyon National Changing the permitting process for businesses at North Las Vegas’ Apex Industrial Park
The Nevada Angle: Left on the cutting room floor
The big three Nevada lands bills — Clark, Washoe and the Northern Nevada bill — didn’t make it into the bipartisanly negotiated government funding bill even before Donald Trump and Elon Musk tanked its prospects. That means it’s better luck next year for those priorities, which are high up on Cortez Masto’s (Clark), Rosen’s (Washoe) and Amodei’s (Northern Nevada) priority lists.
All of the bills passed out of committee this Congress — a good sign — but starting over in the next Congress means re-introducing them, working with Republican majority staff on the Senate side rather than the Democratic staff they had been negotiating with this Congress and trying to get them back through committee. Amodei and the senators had spent years building equity and doing Nevada-specific education with the Democratic staff on the committee; now, Republicans will be running the show.
The X factor in the Senate will be Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the incoming chairman of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee. He voted against the Clark and Washoe bills in committee on the basis that they put too much land into permanent conservation protection.
Knowing the uphill battle ahead, Rosen took to the Senate floor Thursday afternoon to ask for unanimous consent to consider her Washoe County lands bill — a process that can be halted by the objection of any one senator. In this case, the senatorial grinch was Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the current ranking member of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee. Barrasso opposed Rosen’s effort on the same grounds that he opposed both bills earlier this year — that Nevada should have to wait its turn for a broader public lands package that also addresses other states.
“Former Majority Leader Harry Reid cut special deals in the past like this for Nevada,” Barrasso said on the floor. “Congress should not enact another special deal for Nevada when other Western states are seeking similar legislation.”