Meanwhile, Harry Reid Actually Gets Stuff Done...

OK, so it's been hard lately for me to take my eyes off the trainwreck that Suzy Lowdown's campaign has become along with Batsh*t Crazy Sharron Angle catapulting her way to the top of her party so rich with embarrassments. But apparently today, the guy who actually is our Senator delivered some good news.

After failing yesterday to get the 60 votes they needed to bring debate on a historic financial reform bill to a close, Senate Democrats succeeded in this afternoon's cloture vote.

The final vote today was 60-40 (yesterday it was 57-42). Next up is a final vote on passage, which is expected to take place within days.

After today's vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said there are "a couple of amendments that are germane post-cloture, but they're the ones that we have to figure out a way to get resolved."

"We're going to try to work through this," Reid said, adding that there may be more votes this afternoon.

"Best of all worlds, we'd finish this thing and move onto other issues," Reid said. "We're gonna try to do that."

Sure, financial regulatory reform isn't perfect... But at least it looks like we'll have a chance to see votes on amendments to strengthen the bill tomorrow. Hope isn't all lost. Rather, we have a chance to finally see some kind of overhaul in our financial system to prevent any more "too big to fail" catastrophes like what we saw in 2008.

Oh, and did you hear about this?

Stimulus funds will have created or saved 5,600 construction jobs by the end of the year, according to a press release issued yesterday by the Nevada Department of Transportation.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the release says, has provided about $201 million in funding for road construction in Nevada, and 90 percent of the funds have already been contracted out to construction companies.

The release states that 32 ARRA-funded projects are currently underway in the state, and an additional six will begin by the end of May. After the rest of the projects begin over the course of summer and fall, a total of 69 road projects will have used stimulus funding.

Stimulus money has provided funding for numerous road preservation projects throughout the state, funding for landscape projects along the U.S. 95 in Las Vegas and the 395 in Carson City, and partial funding for a new interchange at the 395 and Meadowood Way in Reno. A full list of projects, last updated in January, can be found on the NDOT website.

The majority of the funds — $134 million – have been allocated for work on state highways. An additional $40 million was allocated to Clark County, where about 30 projects were funded by Federal stimulus money. $9 million was allocated to Washoe county, $11 million to rural areas and $6 million to numerous “enhancements.”

But wait, haven't the GOoPers been calling the Recovery Act "porkulus"? So that "pork" meant money for roads and some 5,600 much needed jobs? So Harry Reid was right in pushing to pass the Recovery Act?



The difference can't be any clearer. Whoever the GOoPers ultimately decide upon, he or she will be campaigning AGAINST the very measures that are now pulling us out of the worst recession since the 1930s and into economic recovery. Senator Reid actually worked to pass these very measures that are bringing about a turnaround.

Now why would Nevada want to settle for less? I don't think we do. :-)

NV-03: Dina Titus House Party in Henderson

On Saturday, I had the chance to see my favorite Congresswoman in action at a house party up in Anthem. Dina Titus was answering questions about health care, the Recovery Act, the economy, cooperation (or lack thereof) between the state and the feds, and a little question on immigration reform that I got in. ;-)

For a "small house party" in Sun City Anthem, you can see from my photos that we got a good crowd. As soon as Dina made it from another house party in Henderson, we got started.

On health care, Dina reassured the crowd (many were seniors, as we were right in the heart of Sun City Anthem) that the health care reform legislation passed this year would NOT HURT MEDICARE BENEFITS, but would actually strengthen the Medicare system by redirecting funds from pure insurance company profits into improving the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and offering free preventive care.

Dina was also asked about Social Security. Someone was concerned about the recent Republican talking points being released on Social Security "going bankrupt" in six years. Dina responded by calling that talking point out as a lie and pointing out how the longer-term solvency issues of Social Security can easily be solved, starting with Congress stopping the raids into the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for things like corporate tax cuts and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (what Bush and the Republican Congress did last decade).

There were quite a few questions about the Recovery Act (stimulus) and whether Nevada is getting the money. Dina explained how we are now (FINALLY!!!) getting Recovery Act funds for schools, transportation, and more... No thanks to "Luv Giv" Gibbons. He was the source of most of the delays, as he didn't want to post signs showing these projects were paid for by the Recovery Act and he didn't want to bother with the accountability measures needed for Nevada to receive the funds. Dina Titus then said Congress is trying to get the next round of education funds directly to the schools, so that next time we won't have to worry again about idiots like Gibbons trying to block us from receiving federal funds.

I then asked a question about immigration reform and whether Congress will soon pass comprehensive reform including the Uniting American Families Act. I explained how it was unfair for LGBTQ families trying to do everything legally to still be denied entry because of who they are. As of now, LGBTQ Americans can't sponsor their spouses for legal entry into the country. Dina sympathized with what I said, but I could tell she didn't want to deal with the "hot potato" immigration issue. She talked about the the over 200 bills passed by the House that are still stalled in the Senate, and how House members do not want to see any more legislation passed by them just to hit roadblocks in the Senate. Clearly, she was repeating what Nancy Pelosi has said before, which is that they want to see action in the Senate first on immigration and other "hot button issues" before they drop anything not "directly related to economic recovery" to take them on.

I was a bit frustrated, but I could also understand. For better or for worse, immigration is now Harry Reid's issue and he'll have to get something passed in the Senate first before Pelosi will allow Dina Titus and Shelley Berkley and everyone else in the House to work on immigration issues.

Before Dina had to leave for Lake Mead (to give an award for biggest fish caught, don't ask), she took one more question on foreign affairs and specifically the Israeli-Palestinean conflict. The hostess herself asked, as she was concerned about Israel. Dina Titus responded by saying she shared those concerns about Israel and stated her thoughts on Israel's right to exist.

OK, I must admit this was another frustrating moment for me. The vast majority of Palestineans aren't denying Israel's right to exist... They're just asking for their right to exist on their land. Now Dina Titus did say that "the peace process has to be a two-way street", but this should mean that both sides are willing to actually talk and stop the land incursions and illegal settlements along with the terrorist attacks. Israel can't be expected not to defend itself, but neither can Palestine. There really has to be a two-state solution that all sides can agree to and live with.

OK, enough of my foreign policy preaching. Yes, I sometimes have my issues with Dina. But all in all, it was good to see her here in Henderson reaching out to us in the neighborhood. And hey, she does get quite a bit done for the community. That's why I'd rather keep her in Congress serving our district. Hey, at least she listens to me. ;-)