Nevada’s House Democrats said the Republican legislation further empowers Elon Musk and Donald Trump to run roughshod over Congress. (Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)
The U.S. House Tuesday approved legislation to fund the government through September 30. Now the legislation must pass the Senate by a Friday night deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
The offices of Nevada Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen did not respond to requests for comments after the House vote Tuesday.
But Nevada’s three House Democrats all issued statements blistering the legislation, which passed with all but one Republican vote (Rep. Thomas Massie of KentuckyTexas) and support of a sole Democrat (Rep. Jerrod Golden of Maine).
House Democrats had warned the bill was not a typical continuing resolution, but a White House power grab, and they wanted provisions added to the bill ensuring that the Trump administration would have to spend the money Congress appropriates as directed.
The Trump administration has repeatedly come under fire for flaunting that constitutional requirement, and the actions of the administration as well as Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE have generated multiple lawsuits.
The House Republican legislation “cuts funding for nondefense programs and services by $13 billion while increasing defense spending by $6 billion compared to fiscal year 2024 enacted levels,” according to an analysis from Democrats on the the House Appropriations Committee
“This bill gives Elon Musk carte blanche to continue to steal from the middle class to pay for tax breaks for himself and his billionaire buddies,” said Nevada Rep. Dina Titus in a statement after Tuesday’s vote.
Several federal programs would lose funding as a result of the legislation, Titus said, including rent subsidies, assistance for veterans exposed to toxins, and “a Defense Department account that prevents terrorists from obtaining nuclear weapons.”
“Republicans have also removed $13.1 million in funding for Community Projects in Clark County, including: $7.9 million for projects to assist seniors in need, improve road safety, and enhance emergency response capabilities; $3.4 million for Boulder City to combat the impacts of drought and to save enough water to supply an additional 4,000 homes; and $1.7 million for the City of Henderson to improve resources for crime victims and their families,” Titus said.
“Elon Musk and President Trump are already shutting down the government, and congressional Republicans are sitting back and letting it happen,” said Nevada Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in her statement after the vote.
“Meanwhile, the cost of gas, groceries, and housing continues to rise,” Lee said.
Describing the continuing resolution to fund the government as “anything but clean,” Lee warned that the legislation “defunds police, cripples our national defense, cuts veterans’ health care, and slashes programs Nevadans rely on.”
The legislation “cedes congressional authority to Trump,” read the statement from Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford.
“Days after Elon Musk threatened the Social Security benefits my constituents have earned, this bill makes it easier for Musk and Trump to fire thousands of Social Security Administration workers,” Horsford said.
“And as veterans and military-connected families reel from news that Trump wants to fire 83,000 people from the VA, this bill drops $22.8 billion that was intended for veteran medical care, and creates an opportunity for the Trump Administration to redirect Veteran Health Administration funds to other causes, or eliminate them entirely,” Horsford said.
“I voted no, and I’m calling on my Senate colleagues to reject this partisan sham,” he said.
Horsford also noted that “Republicans hold the House, the Senate, and the White House,” and yet by having to resort to a continuing resolution, “they’re acknowledging that they failed to provide a budget.”
One of the House Republicans more responsible than most for seeing that a budget is provided is Rep. Mark Amoedi, Nevada’s only Republican in Congress, and chair of the subcommittee on homeland security in the House Appropriations Committee — ostensibly the committee charged with ironing out federal department and agency budgets.
“A fundamental duty of Congress is to ensure the federal government remains open and operational,” Amodei said in his statement issued after the vote, adding a “long-term continuing resolution is necessary to preserve the continuity of critical services and programs while avoiding unnecessary increases in taxpayer spending.”
The Appropriations Committee will work “at breakneck pace” to develop a budget for fiscal year 2026, Amodei added.
In the meantime, “while it’s not the ideal solution, this legislation, free of hidden agendas, allows Congress to focus on working with the President in implementing his agenda and restoring fiscal discipline to our nation, he said.
Following a continuing resolution to keep the government running in October and another one in December, the legislation passed Tuesday was a third CR to fund the federal government through the rest of the fiscal year, instead of having leaders on the Appropriations Committees negotiate full-year spending bills.
States Newsroom reporter Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.