Lisa Mascaro

Washington Coorespondent

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Early bills would assist Nevada’s kids, workers: Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009; After a fitful start, the new Congress began to move forward Wednesday as Democrats unveiled priority legislation, including bills important to Nevada, and Republicans promised to pursue aggressively their role as the “loyal opposition.”
Louder now: No on pork for mob museum: Stimulus money for Vegas project? Fuhgeddaboudit; Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009; The mob museum just can’t seem to get any love in this town. Republican Sen. John Ensign on Wednesday became the latest Nevada lawmaker to say there’s no way Las Vegas’ proposed Mob Museum is going to get a dime from the federal economic stimulus package.
Heller named to Ways and Means: Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009; Nevada Republican Rep. Dean Heller was named to the House Ways and Means Committee today, a powerful tax-writing panel that will be central to this year’s legislative agenda in Congress.
The new era’s dawn is hopeful, if a little messy: Titus exults, Reid maneuvers; Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opened the 111th Congress on Tuesday in a Senate chamber that looked different from just a few weeks ago, displaying a new political map of voters’ optimism — even as the messiness of democracy was just outside its doors.
House renews probe of U.S. attorney firings: Vote to continue lawsuit means inside story of Bogden’s dismissal may come to light; Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009; The untold story of the firing of Nevada’s former U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden may yet be unraveled.
Studying up, and it feels like ‘first day of school’: New congresswoman reviews rules with eye on effectiveness; Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009; Dina Titus begins a new political era today, for herself and Nevada, when she stands on the floor of the House of Representatives and is sworn in as a member of the 111th Congress.
Mob museum is Exhibit A for GOP leader: McConnell uses local project to make point against stimulus pork; Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009; Las Vegas’ proposed mob museum is a subject ripe for ridicule, and the Republicans here have held it up as just that. “We would like, on the spending side, obviously, to avoid funding things like a mob museums or water slides,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate.
Reid called possible Obama replacements: Monday, Jan. 5, 2009; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid personally called Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. after news reports that the senator had rejected Jackson and two other lawmakers as possible Senate appointees because he was concerned they could not win the seat in a future election.
Reid fires back on Obama replacement appointees: Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009; WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shot back today at critics who have suggested racial politics is at play in his reported preference for white elected officials rather than African-Americans as potential appointees to replace Barack Obama in the Senate.
Empty seats will complicate Reid’s first days back in session: Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009; It seemed so simple on election night, the way Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suddenly found himself about to lead the largest Democratic majority in the Senate since the Carter administration.
Nation’s enthusiasm is palpable, but will it last?: Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008; One night more than a year ago, I was kept awake by a group stumbling home from what sounded unmistakably like an evening of drinking at bars on the Hill.
Will lawmakers reclaim power?: Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008; Television commercials now playing for the movie “Frost/Nixon” resurrect a famous post-Watergate retort by President Nixon: When the president does something, by definition it’s not illegal. As it happens, the statement is perfectly apt for this moment in history.
Interior nominee Salazar likely to push update, not overhaul, of mining law: Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008; As interior secretary, Sen. Ken Salazar may help execute changes in the mining law that governs Nevada’s No. 2 industry, but the Colorado Democrat is not seen as the catalyst for sweeping reforms.
With stand on bailout, GOP signals priorities: Hard-line opposition shows party valuing ideology over pragmatism; Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008; When the vote tally emerged in the auto bailout, Nevada’s lawmakers in the House fell into what has become a predictable new pattern: Republican Rep. Jon Porter and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley voted yes. Republican Rep. Dean Heller voted no.
For Ensign, no auto bailout unless labor costs are slashed: Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008; As a conservative in one of rural Nevada’s most conservative counties, auto dealer Don Lindberg is not a bailout kind of guy. But as he watches Congress debate whether to rescue the Big Three automakers, the owner of Wild West Motors in Yerington thinks some sort of aid should be extended. He has laid off five of his 30 employees in the small farming town of 2,500.
Little empathy for Big Three in D.C.: Reid helping press for an agreement to aid Detroit, but he’s getting only tempered support at best; Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008; For a nation with such enduring love for American autos, the last month has been an amazing and painful divorce.
Biden unwelcome in Senate huddles, where Cheney wielded power: Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008; In a move to reassert Congressional independence at the start of the new presidential administration, the vice president will be barred from joining weekly internal Senate deliberations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun.
Reid-Ensign pact fraying as recount goes on: Friday, Dec. 5, 2008; After all Nevada’s two senators have been through these past two years, it’s hard to believe they would come to blows over Minnesota.
Trying to drive a different spin: Michigan senator attempts to help the battered images of the Big Three’s CEOs, but ...; Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008; As Detroit’s Big Three automakers head to Capitol Hill to plead again for a federal bailout, their home state senator, Carl Levin, D-Mich., is doing all he can to boost their image.
The great potential and risk in Reid’s big, bold, green push: Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008; Here’s a strategy for either great success or a political flop: Assemble some of the best and brightest thinkers on a policy issue, ask for their legislative wish lists and tell them you will deliver.
Partisan blame for financial crisis not so easily affixed: Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008; A few days before the November election, Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign suggested the financial meltdown that was killing his party’s electoral chances was caused not by too little regulation from Washington — but too much.
A lingering case of election-itis: Nearly a month out, U.S. capital still afflicted as Senate seats stay in limbo; Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008; Believe me, even political operatives in this town wouldn’t mind if the election season were to end.
There’s little cheer in D.C., Carson City as holidays near: Lawmakers face gloomy economy, budget cuts; Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008; Snow fell outside the Capitol windows last week for the first time this year — nothing lasting, really, just flurries that sent a ripple of chatter through the halls much like the anticipated automotive bailout deal that was abandoned before it could become real.
Titus enjoys a week of firsts in Washington: Porter prepares for time away from public realm; Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008; Congresswoman-elect Dina Titus arrived for dinner with lawmakers in a stately hall under the Capitol dome last week to find she had been assigned a seat worth noting: The chair between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Pelosi at Table No. 1.
Why should Nevada care about the automakers?: Friday, Nov. 21, 2008; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid knew on Thursday that Congress had not been at its finest this week as it weighed rescue of the Big Three automakers. In Searchlight, or even Las Vegas, it’s tough to explain why ordinary taxpayers should shell out $25 billion to bail out an auto industry whose executives had just flown to Washington on three separate corporate planes, Reid said.
State GOP looks to Ensign for renewal: Embraced by Republicans as natural ‘go-to guy,’ senator inherits task of rebuilding; Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008; Since the Nevada Republican Party endured enormous losses on Election Day, Republican Sen. John Ensign seems to have been channeling his Senate colleague, Democratic Sen. Harry Reid.
Texan picked to help oust Dems in ’10; Reid on list: Reelected as majority leader, Nevadan can expect tough fight in two years; Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008; The real action Wednesday may have come from a Texas Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, who was selected to lead Republican efforts to win Senate seats in 2010, replacing the recently promoted Sen. John Ensign.
Already, Titus faces difficult first vote: She must cast ballot for chairman of panel she wants to join; Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008; Even before she arrived for her freshman class photo Monday morning, Nevada’s newest congresswoman-elect found herself in the middle of a political battle.
As downturn worsens, price of help goes up: New government spending is on the table this week; Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008; Even the most committed skeptics can become believers in times of trouble.
In hindsight, a bailout and switch?: Kucinich, others worked up over shape-shifting plan that has mostly helped banks; Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008; Rep. Dennis Kucinich is often on the rough end of jokes, what with his calls to impeach the president and his belief in UFOs.
Renewables tax credits finally here, but too late: Financing has dried up for the projects they were intended to encourage; Friday, Nov. 14, 2008; Sometimes, timing is everything.
Bush administration moves on Internet gaming ban: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008; The Bush administration released long-awaited final rules this afternoon to ban Internet gaming -- apparently undeterred by an article in today’s Washington Post that raised questions about the White House’s decision to seek assistance from a former National Football League lobbyist who had worked against online gaming.
Ensign in campaign mode again in battle for Georgia Senate seat: Runoff could give Dems a supermajority; Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008; So much for the post-election getaway to Napa Valley.
Congressman seeks delay in online gaming regulations: Monday, Nov. 10, 2008; One of Congress’ leading supporters of online gaming urged Bush administration officials today to hold off on instituting regulations to outlaw the games in the final days of the presidency.
Race as an undercurrent: Obama victory, celebrations inspire hope for eventual end of prejudice; Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008; On the Saturday afternoon before Barack Obama was elected president, a young black couple waited at a crowded bus stop here in the nation’s capital, trying to get a cab.
Ensign makes funding pitch to avert Senate supermajority: Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008; Republican Sen. John Ensign has sent a fundraising plea to help the party win Senate elections that remain undecided, including for the seat held by Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.
Card check: Democrats can expect fight: Friday, Nov. 7, 2008; With Democrats enjoying greater numbers in the Senate, unions and their allies see passage of the Employee Free Choice Act as a top priority.
What Dems' tone tells us about how they will govern: Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008; President Bush emerged from his 2004 reelection and famously said that he had amassed quite a bit of political capital in winning a second term — and he intended to spend it.
Reid begins to relax as Senate race results show gains for Dems: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008; Election night has just begun, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is on the edge of his seat.
Reid next in new cycle: The recent trend of parties targeting each other’s Senate leader will reach Nevada in 2010; Monday, Nov. 3, 2008; Tired of the Nevada election and looking for the next big thing? Consider turning your attention to Kentucky, where you can get a glimpse of ... imagine this ... Nevada in 2010.
Road from recession to depression is long, winding and far off: Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008; It’s always a little unsettling to ask a serious question and have the answer come back as a joke, as if you’re in an old gangster movie and the chuckle comes just before someone clubs you with a revolver.
In party eyes, Ensign’s mettle may offset result: Thursday, Oct. 30, 2008; Nevada Sen. John Ensign could very well preside over the biggest electoral loss of Republican Senate seats in 30 years, yet emerge after the election well positioned for promotion up the ranks of party leadership.
GOP pins Senate hopes on $5 million influx: Goal of loan is to prevent Democrats from attaining a 60-vote majority; Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008; Fearing Democrats will secure a large enough majority in the U.S. Senate to pursue a national agenda aggressively, the Republican Party is borrowing $5 million to boost Nevada Sen. John Ensign’s efforts to elect Republican senators.
No-show by Ensign not fully explained: Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008; In the weeks leading up to the Brookings Institution forum at UNLV, the agendas included a grand finale entitled “Getting It Done: A Dialogue Between Mega Las Vegas Leaders and Nevada Senators.” Nevada’s two U.S. senators were listed as participants.
Overnight, focus shifts to possible filibuster-proof Senate majority: Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008; Outside the glare of the presidential election, the two political parties have begun waging an unprecedented campaign to capture — or prevent — a U.S. Senate majority large enough for Democrats to pursue their national agenda despite Republican opposition.
Poll: Obama up by 5 points in Nevada: Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008; WASHINGTON -- A new CNN-Time-Opinion Research poll out this afternoon shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leading Republican John McCain among likely voters in Nevada and three other battleground states.
Conservative groups dig deep to prevent Senate supermajority: Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008; Propelled by voter anxiety over the economic downturn, Democrats are possibly poised to win a filibuster-proof majority of seats in the U.S. Senate, as outside groups pour money into Republican races to reverse the trend.
House panel: White House used taxes on politics here: Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008; The Bush White House violated federal policy by deploying five top administration officials to Nevada, at least some at taxpayer expense, two years ago to help Republicans win election campaigns, according to a House committee.
Risk-laden financial moves tantamount to gambling: But Congress ensured that default swaps — at center of meltdown — stayed unregulated; Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008; If you want a single fact to help you understand the nation’s financial mess, consider this: The credit default swaps behind so much of the meltdown were so risky that federal authorities feared that state governments might try to ban them as illegal gambling.
Reid unveiling economic stimulus package: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is unveiling a $150 billion economic stimulus package of public works projects, middle-class tax cuts and mortgage relief this afternoon in Las Vegas, further defining the two parties’ approach to pocketbook issues hours before the final presidential debate.