Democrat U.S. senatorial candidate Jacky Rosen, right, makes a point during an answer at a campaign stop in Fallon on Aug. 22.
Democrat Jacky Rosen, who’s challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Dean Heller, has been visiting rural communities around the state this summer including a stop in Fallon on Aug. 22 at the Old Post Office.
Rosen is serving her first term as a congresswoman from Congressional District 3, which represents a swath of Southern Nevada. The breakfast roundtable discussion attracted more than 30 residents who were interested in meeting Rosen and hearing her viewpoints on a range of topics. Rosen said she wanted to listen to community members and take their concerns back with her to the House of Representatives.
“That’s my job … to listen and advocate (for you) when I go back to Washington,” she said.
Nyla Howell, chairwoman of the Churchill County Democrats, said it’s important for Democrats running for state and national office to make trips to the rural counties and talk to the residents.
“We have been making our voices heard with the candidates,” she said. “If you want our vote, you need to come see us.”
Howell said many candidates wrote off the rurals in every state in 2016 because they didn’t matter, but Howell said rural counties do make a difference.
“A lot of Democrats lost in the rural areas including Nevada,” she said.
Howell points to the 2014 elections in which Democrats lost all six Nevada constitutional races, the Assembly and Senate.
“We don’t want that to happen again,” she said.
In her first year in the House, Rosen serves on the House Armed Services Committee and on subcommittees on Tactical Air and Land Forces and Military Personnel. Rosen said she loves to talk about the importance of military in Nevada and refers to carrier air wings and their pilots who train in Fallon at the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center and also the role of Nellis Air Force Base east of Las Vegas.
Rosen said she is passionate about military issues and cites a strong family background of service. Her father served in World War II, a grandfather was a tail gunner in the same war and her father-in-law saw action in the Philippines. Other relatives have also served.
Because of her family’s service — although it occurred years ago — Rosen said when someone deploys, the whole family deploys at home in their own way.
As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rosen told the LVN Congress was able to increase military pay on the last National Defense Authorization Act. Domestic abuse has been added into the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Furthermore, Rosen said the committee is focused on helping servicemen and women focus on job skills both in the service and for their civilian lives after the military.
According to her website, Rosen helped introduce the Forever GI bill that expands college assistance for veterans and allows new military personnel to use their education benefits later in life. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rosen “introduced and worked successfully to pass a bipartisan increase in investment for missile defense systems protecting allies in Israel and to help secure the electric grid at military installations.”
“We also have a huge problem not only with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) but also trauma brain injuries, pain, depression and suicide, and we need to put more money into the mental health services,” she said.
Rosen said it’s disheartening to see the number of veterans who die by suicide.
Rosen also touched on the Bureau of Land Management and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s proposal to move the department’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to the West.
“The location of the headquarters does not matter,” she said. “It’s not location but philosophy.”
She also said Congress needs to care more about the country’s natural resources, which she says is a treasure to everyone. Rosen, according to her website, has been fighting to preserve the national monuments. Because of Nevada’s explosive growth, the availability of water will also be an issue.
Rosen asked attendees what concerns they have. Several members of the audience expressed concerns about Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as healthcare premiums, prescription prices and pre-existing conditions. Rosen said Congress needs to address the shortage of physicians.
A Fallon resident asked her about the government wanting to use Yucca Mountain, and Rosen said she was against opening the facility for storing nuclear waste.