The House remained focused on the people’s priorities this week, taking action to prevent discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. In addition, we passed legislation to ensure our local law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to address the mental health challenges faced by their officers. Below are a few bills we voted on this week that may be of interest to you:
Confronting Sexual Harassment & Discrimination
Like you, I’m deeply concerned by the number of recent reports of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. In light of the incidents emerging from several different industries across our nation, including Capitol Hill, the House took necessary action this week to condemn inappropriate behavior in the workplace by passing H.Res.630. This resolution requires all Members of Congress and staff to complete mandatory anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training during each session of Congress. To ensure my offices are fully aware and educated on this issue, I have required all staff in Washington, Reno, and Elko to complete this training over the next two weeks. There will be a zero tolerance policy for this type of behavior, because the workplace should be a safe and secure environment for all employees.
H.R. 2228 – the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017
Our nation’s law enforcement officials put themselves on the front lines each day to protect our communities. As a result, the high occupational stress from their line of work is directly related to: higher rates of heart disease, divorce, number of sick days, alcohol abuse, and major psychological illnesses such as acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety disorder. To ensure our law enforcement officials have the resources they need to successfully serve their communities, H.R. 2228 would direct the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to equip local law enforcement agencies with the tools to address these mental health challenges.
Looking Ahead:
Tax Reform
As you may or may not know, the House recently passed its version of a comprehensive tax reform bill. After devoting as much time as possible toward the analysis of this legislation prior to the House vote, my staff and I concluded that the vast majority of federal taxpayers in CD-2 would receive a tax cut under this legislation. While the Senate’s bill is not identical to the version passed here in the House, I look forward to seeing the Senate’s final work product.
Government Shutdown
In order to avert a shutdown of our federal government, Congress must pass a funding bill by December 8. As you may remember, the last government shutdown lasted 16 days, from September 30 to October 17, 2013. With the deadline fast approaching, my staff and I will continue to evaluate any and all updates we receive in regards to a government shutdown and keep you informed along the way.
Immigration
This week, I signed the discharge petition relating to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
After the President issued the Congress a March 5, 2018 deadline to resolve the DACA issue, I said that Floor action was – and continues to be – absolutely necessary after years of coulda’, woulda’, shoulda’. If any of my colleagues believe DACA is the perfect material to insert into an end of the year spending bill, tax reform bill, or other type of major legislation, in view of this week’s chapter in partisan polarization – I respectfully disagree.
Signing this discharge petition represents the only tool left to me as an individual Member of Congress to keep my word by doing everything I can to bring the DACA issue to the House Floor for a vote before the end of this year. Once again, this falls into the category of I’d rather be criticized for attempting to move an issue toward a solution, than watching nothing happen on issues for years. As I have said before, it’s impossible to defend doing nothing in circumstances like this.
If successful, the discharge petition would bring the bill (H.Res.508) to the Floor, where amendments may be debated, discussed, and voted on in the Rules Committee and on the House Floor. The last time I checked, that’s called the legislative process, a process which allows people to judge Congress’s work product by virtue of how we voted instead of what we said. Click here to learn more.
Net Neutrality
The concept of “network neutrality” is just one element in a much larger debate over telecommunications laws and regulations. As you may know, the last time these rules and regulations were updated was in 1996 and obviously technology has advanced quite a bit in that time frame.
In February 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted an order to impose rules governing the management of Internet traffic passing over broadband Internet access services (BIAS). Commonly referred to as “net neutrality ”rules, the regulatory impact of the order prohibits the blocking of legal content, forbids paid prioritization of affiliated or proprietary content, and prohibits the throttling of legal content by broadband Internet access service providers. Right now, this is the ruling the FCC is determining whether or not to review. The FCC will vote on the issue at its Open Meeting on December 14, 2017.
You might be interested to know this is an issue regulated by the Administration. This is not something Congress had a hand in. In fact, Chairman Wheeler exercised the same authority under President Obama. While there is a lot of misinformation and emotion out there, what Chairman Pai is attempting to do is rollback some of the most stringent regulations implemented under the Obama Administration.
Nevada News
The Passing of Dr. Joseph Crowley
I’d like to take moment to recognize Dr. Joseph Crowley, the University of Nevada, Reno’s longest-serving President, who sadly passed away this week. I first met Dr. Crowley when I was a freshman and he was working as director of the political science department. During his tenure at UNR, Dr. Crowley served as a professor, department chair, and as acting president before eventually becoming president in 1979. Dr. Crowley brought further stature to UNR while serving as president of the NCAA, from 1993 to 1995, during which time he did groundbreaking work on Title IX programs benefitting women athletes. While Dr. Crowley wore many hats at UNR, he always made sure to put the educational needs of Nevadans first, working hard each day to advance the university’s mission to provide ‘outstanding learning, discovery, and engagement programs.’ Without a doubt, Dr. Crowley’s strong leadership and dedication has done great things for UNR and Nevada and he will be greatly missed.
As always, thank you for subscribing to the Amodei Report. I look forward to continuing to keep you up to date on the issues you care about most.
For additional information, please visit my website at amodei.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-6155, Reno office: (775) 686-5760 or Elko office: (775) 777-7705. To receive updates on what I am doing in Washington and in Nevada’s 2nd District follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.
