After a three-day government shutdown over the weekend, the House and Senate voted on Monday to fund the government until Feb. 8. The House voted 266-150 to end the shutdown that saw non-essential government services such as passport processing suspended and some federal employees furloughed.

Nevada’s House delegation voted along party lines on the spending bill, though Republican Rep. Mark Amodei wasn’t present for the vote. In a statement, Amodei said the temporary budget failed to negotiate spending caps for military readiness, disaster relief, immigration and national security. He said he was “tired of lurching from budget crisis to budget crisis.”

“Unless something changes in regard to the budget cap debate in the coming weeks, Congress will vote on another Continuing Resolution (CR), its fifth in the past four months, instead of an annual spending bill,” Amodei said.

Democratic Reps. Jacky Rosen, Dina Titus, and Ruben Kihuen voted “no” on the short-term funding of the government. Titus said she was disappointed by the failure to address critical issues, including funding for health care programs and various shuttered deportation relief programs in Congress.

“I believe the only path forward to stop this dysfunction is a meaningful commitment to bipartisan problem-solving,” she said. “Congress needs to work across the aisle to protect Nevada's Dreamers and TPS workers, fund our community health centers, and pass a long-term budget that provides certainty for our government, our military, and our economy.”

Democrats were holding out for a bill that would fund a program providing health insurance for children of low-income parents, and give legal status to immigrant children - known as DREAMers - who entered the country illegally as children. Republicans wanted the shutdown ended before any bipartisan immigration deal could be discussed.

Senators on Monday also voted 81-18 on the three-week spending bill. Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto voted against the measure, blaming the president for creating a “manufactured crisis” by ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), and saying Senate Republicans have “consistently proven” that their word cannot be counted on.

“We must fight like hell to make sure that Senator (Mitch) McConnell keeps his promise,” she said in a statement.

After holding firm and voting against the spending bill on Friday, Senate Democrats voted to reopen the government after they were able to get an agreement from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about a possible deal addressing DACA. If a bipartisan deal cannot be done by the looming Feb. 8 deadline, the Senate will proceed to legislation addressing DACA.

Congress now has less than three weeks to either approve another short-term spending bill or pass a long-term funding mechanism for the government to continue operating. The House was not in session this week, which leaves only six working legislative days for Congress to avoid another shutdown.

Outside of the shutdown, congressional action was relatively light this week, with only a handful of Senate votes being cast.

Cortez Masto and Republican Sen. Dean Heller both voted to confirm Jerome Powell to be the new chairman of the Federal Reserve System, but Cortez Masto split with Heller on two other major confirmation votes.

The freshman Democrat voted against confirming former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and against the nomination of Alex Azar to be the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. Brownback was confirmed on a 49-49 vote, and Azar was approved on a 54-43 vote.

Heller co-sponsored The Justice Served Act 2018, which would allocate funds for processing backlogged rape kits and to test cold case files for DNA.

“This legislation gives Nevada’s prosecutors the necessary resources to go after perpetrators of heinous crimes and to help deliver justice to victims and their families,” Heller said in a statement. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to see this bill enacted into law.”

For a more comprehensive look at what the delegates did or did not support this week, check out The Nevada Independent’s congressional vote tracker and round-up of sponsored legislation below:





SEN. DEAN HELLER

Legislation co-sponsored:

S. 2345 - Justice Served Act of 2018

SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO

Legislation co-sponsored:

S.Res. 368 - A resolution supporting the right of all Iranian citizens to have their voices heard.

REP. DINA TITUS

Legislation co-sponsored:

H.Res. 711 - Celebrating the 325th anniversary of the founding of the College of William & Mary in Virginia by British Royal Charter and congratulating President W. Taylor Reveley, III, after a decade of tremendous leadership as the 27th President of William & Mary.