U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) at a Carson City Chamber of Commerce meeting Aug. 31, 2023.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, who was born and raised in Carson City, has served Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District for a dozen years and wants to serve at least two more.
After a meeting Thursday with members of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, during which the Republican lawmaker discussed federal and local issues, Amodei told the Appeal he plans to run for reelection in 2024. He joked he doesn’t want to die in office but added he has “increased responsibility” as a lawmaker.
Amodei graduated from Carson High School in 1976, served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps and also in the Nevada Assembly and Senate before heading to Washington in 2011. He currently sits on the House Appropriations Committee and is chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.
Amodei started Thursday’s discussion with the federal budget, which could be a contentious process as the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
“I go back (to Washington) a week from Tuesday to pick up the appropriations process mainly,” he said. “The appropriations process is 12 bills that are what we call discretionary spending… Discretionary spending is 25 cents of every dollar the feds spend. Seventy-five cents is mandatory spending: Social Security, Medicare, interest on the debt and some veterans programs.”
Amodei described how lawmakers typically battle over discretionary spending.
“If you want to change Social Security, Medicare, the veterans programs that are mandatory spending or interest on the debt — good luck with that — then you got to change the law,” he said. “So the next time you hear, ‘Some SOB is messing with your Social Security,’ or whatever, it’s like, tell me the bill number because you can’t change it unless you change the underlying legislation. Those other 12 (bills) are the ones that are the annual budget.”
Amodei said a continuing resolution could avoid a government shutdown. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, continuing resolutions are “temporary spending bills that allow federal government operations to continue when final appropriations have not been approved by Congress and the president.”
“Our challenge will be this: You’re going to need a continuing resolution, or you’re going to get a shutdown,” Amodei said. “I voted for shutdowns under the Obama administration and under the Trump administration. I’ll just tell you what changed from the beginning of all those shutdowns until the end … was nothing.”
Amodei said the challenge of the next 60 days will be “how short of a continuing resolution can you get the other side to agree to?”
In December 2022, Amodei voted against a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that allocated discretionary spending for federal fiscal year 2023.
“As the federal budget goes, I think that bill is a mistake,” he told the Appeal at the time.
Thursday, Amodei was likewise concerned about high levels of federal spending while “borrowing a ton of it.” At the same time, he argued a shutdown would help no one.
“I’ll just tell you: unless something changes, and I’ll let you know, I don’t think anyone wins in a shutdown,” he said.
Jim Peckham, executive director of Friends In Service Helping, asked the congressman about using federal lands and providing opportunities for Carson City to grow.
Amodei pointed to a lands bill he reintroduced in the House in May that he hopes will be passed by the end of the year. According to a news release from his office, the bill would convey “approximately 211 acres of BLM land to Carson City for public purposes, flood management and economic development,” among other measures.
“Nobody elected me to do planning and zoning,” Amodei told chamber members. “Nobody elected me to say, ‘Put the slaughterhouse there, don’t put it there,’ you know, all that fun stuff. It makes divorce court look like an ice cream social.”
Amodei said his job is to follow the vision of local planners by providing “the inventory, if you will, for them to do their thing.”
“Now that can include everything from ‘We need some flood control land. We need a school site. We need a reservoir. We need some stuff to sell to developers to continue to develop the tax base,’” he said.
He said his goal is to listen to local governing bodies.
“It’s real simple with us,” he said. “You give me a resolution from the Carson City Board of Supervisors saying this is what we want, we’re off to the races. Our job is then to deliver that.”
Peckham said more affordable housing is needed, and Amodei agreed housing is a challenge in the area, with high prices limiting options.
“The good news is your house is worth a lot more than you thought it was,” he said. “The bad news is as soon as you sell it, you’re screwed,” he said.
The discussion with the congressman came after a Carson City Planning Commission workshop Wednesday night. In that meeting, officials from the city and state joined various developers to discuss affordable housing with planning commissioners and the public. Though no action was taken, city staff indicated they would work with stakeholders to see what impediments exist — such as a dearth of buildable land — and to explore potential policies for affordable housing.
“I’ll earmark any federal land that the local planners and zoners ask me to,” Amodei said Thursday.
For information about the Northern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act (lands bill), visit: https://amodei.house.gov/news-releases/amodei-reintroduces-northern-nevada-economic-development-and-conservation-act-2023.