In the News
WASHINGTON — Nevada Rep. Susie Lee will serve on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, a panel that oversees health care benefits and services to thousands of vets in the Silver State.
There are 225,000 veterans in Nevada, according to a state interagency council, and Lee, a Democrat, said she would "use my voice to fight for them every day."
The daughter of a veteran, Lee said that "I know firsthand the importance of caring for our veterans when they return home."
The United States has reached day 26 in the partial government shutdown. That means some 420,000 federal employees whose work is declared essential are working without pay, including at the FBI, TSA and other federal law enforcement offices.
Some staff at the State and Homeland Security departments are also working without compensation.
Some federal workers are even taking on odd jobs to make ends meet. They have more options than in past shutdowns.
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada will serve on the House Committee on Education and Labor, a panel she said she would use to improve public education in Nevada and "tackle skyrocketing student loan debt."
"I have spent my career working to improve Nevada's public education system and help students reach their fullest potential," Lee said in a statement.
Lee said the committee also oversees "investment in workforce development and job training, which will provide Nevada workers with the skills and tools they need to succeed in today's economy."
A group of federal workers gathered in the Henderson office of U.S. Rep. Susie Lee on Saturday afternoon to share the impacts that the government shutdown, which has now lasted more than three weeks, has had on their lives.
While many employees said their pay had been unaffected, Transportation Security Administration agent Becky Esquivel said she and other airport security officers at McCarran International Airport are directly affected by the shutdown because they aren't getting paid.
"And we are the lowest-paid federal officers, period," Esquivel said.
(CNN) As federal employees brace themselves for their first missed paychecks on Friday, some members of Congress have decided to join them in a show of solidarity and refuse their paychecks.
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in Nevada's congressional delegation are prepared to get to work on issues specific to the state, including filling federal judicial vacancies and keeping the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project mothballed.
Nevada Democrats ran for election on campaigns to protect health care and reduce the cost of prescription drugs, issues that Sen. Jacky Rosen, Rep. Steven Horsford and Rep. Susie Lee, the newest members of the delegation, all cited as priorities.
In their first days in control of the House, Democrats approved legislation to end the partial government shutdown, but the bill will not be considered by the GOP-controlled Senate as it does not include the $5 billion for the southern border wall demanded by President Donald Trump.
Several lawmakers have declared they will decline their paycheck or will donate it to charity in solidarity with civilian workers furloughed or working without pay.
Federal workers received their regular paychecks last week for work completed before the shutdown, but if a spending agreement is not reached soon, thousands could see a delay in paychecks scheduled for next Friday.
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders and President Donald Trump appeared no closer to a deal to reopen the government Friday following a White House meeting that Democrats said ended with a presidential threat to keep federal offices shuttered for "months or even years."
Trump, though, characterized the meeting as "productive" and said negotiations would continue over the weekend to reach consensus on his demand for $5 billion in border wall funding that has been the focus of the impasse that forced the 14-day-old partial shutdown.