Heller and Heck Vote for Reckless Job-Destroying GOP Spending Plan…Again

Las Vegas, NV - No, it's not a bad April Fools Day joke.  In fact, it's not very funny at all.

For the second time in as many months, the Republican House of Representatives today voted to pass the job-destroying Republican spending plan.  Predictably, Reps. Dean Heller and Joe Heck caved to the extreme TEA Party wing of their party and voted once again for H.R. 1, the reckless GOP spending plan that will cost the state thousands of jobs and hurt Nevada seniors, veterans and law enforcement officers.

“Dean Heller and Joe Heck’s irresponsible and out-of-touch votes today for the GOP spending plan will cost Nevada 6,000 jobs if enacted,” said Zach Hudson, spokesperson for the Nevada State Democratic Party.  “Heller and Heck’s reckless support for the Republican spending plan is outrageous at a time when Nevada suffers the highest unemployment rate in the country.

Independent, non-partisan analysis has found that H.R. 1 will cost Nevada 6,000 jobs through 2012. Nearly 600 community health center jobs alone will be eliminated if the House Republican spending plan was enacted.  Nevada could lose around $30 million in job training investments under the bill, potentially impacting 8,000 Nevada workers.  In addition to costing Nevada thousands of jobs, the bill would endanger public safety.  The bill cuts Byrne Justice Grants by $1.6 million and reduces Nevada’s homeland security investments by nearly $1 million, hurting local law enforcement’s ability to keep Nevadans safe.

Besides costing Nevada jobs and undermining law enforcement, the GOP plan would be devastating to Nevada senior citizens and homeless veterans.  The bill would effectively close the Social Security Administration for a month, resulting in more than 4,000 Nevada applications for Social Security benefits not being processed, tens of thousands of Nevadans being unable to get assistance from Social Security offices, and nearly 1,500 disabled Nevada workers would have no way to appeal their benefit denials.  The bill would also eliminate new funding for the Housing Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD/VASH), a program that provides housing assistance to homeless veterans.  This is a critical program has already helped an estimated 600 homeless veterans in Nevada transition into affordable housing. 

“Heller and Heck have made perfectly clear today that they would rather blindly follow the extreme wing of their party than work to create jobs and protect Nevada citizens,” Hudson continued.  “Cutting Nevada jobs, threatening public safety, and gutting assistance to seniors and veterans might sound good to Heller and Heck’s TEA Party base, but struggling Nevadans are fed up with their partisan and reckless pandering.”