Latest news with #CortezMasto
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nevada businesses hit by tourism drop from tariffs
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said it is currently crunch time for the National Park Service, small businesses, and the travel industry in Nevada. Cortez Masto held a press conference Thursday at Wetlands Park to discuss the decline in tourism and funding, which she attributes to the Trump Administration's tariffs. 'We are seeing a negative impact on families across the state. From food to energy, healthcare costs, clothing, you name it,' Senator Cortez Masto added. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the Administration is keeping Americans from being taken advantage of. 'The President's trade policy will continue, and we will comply with the courts' orders,' Leavitt shared. As for outdoor recreation, places like Lake Mead and Red Rock, among others, draw $8.1 billion to Nevada's economy annually. Mandi Elliott, with Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition, said it is hurting businesses like rental company Basecamp Outdoor Gear, which caters to travelers and their outdoor belongings. 'The drop in tourism is affecting their bottom line, and with the tariff increase, there's a lot of uncertainty for their small business. It's not as simple to just buy all your materials from the U.S. The cost is extreme, and most can't keep up,' Elliott added. On Thursday, a federal appeals court ruled that President Donald Trump's tariffs can continue until a final ruling is made. This counteracts a ruling a day earlier from the court of international trade that blocked the tariffs. The appeals court said the President can levy tariffs using the emergency powers he declared earlier this year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Of all the U.S. senators, Nevada's should know better than to coddle crypto
Website screenshot of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family cryptocurrency company. This month an investment firm connected to the Abu Dhabi royal family announced it was using the WLF's USD1 stablecoin to make a $2 billion investment in a crypto exchange. Neither Catherine Cortez Masto nor Jacky Rosen were in the U.S. Senate when the Commodity Futures Modernization Act was passed a quarter century ago. But both were in Nevada when Las Vegas was an epicenter for the wildly irresponsible mortgage backed derivatives market that did so much to cause the Great Recession that hit Nevada harder and longer than any other state. The Commodity Futures Modernization Act is what deregulated and hence led to the explosion — and then implosion — of the derivatives market. Which is to say of all the U.S. senators, the two from Nevada should be especially wary of approving weak federal regulations that promote the growth of exotic financial instruments because an industry told them to. And yet here we go again. Early this week, Cortez Masto and Rosen were among 16 Senate Democrats voting with all the Republicans to advance the GENIUS Act, a Trump-endorsed gift to the cryptocurrency industry. Crypto-folk are eager to see the bill enacted in the current Congress because they fear Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House in next year's midterm elections, the industry's window of opportunity will close, and the legislation will never make it to Trump's desk. (The industry may be underestimating congressional Democratic inclination to curry favor with, or at least try not to upset, extremely deep-pocketed industry political action committees, but I digress). The legislation will promote the growth of a particular strain of cryptocurrency, stablecoin, by accelerating its integration with the U.S. financial system, while exempting it from regulatory requirements and consumer protections administered by (what's left of) the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this month, all the Senate Democrats, joined by two Republicans, temporarily blocked the legislation. At the time, Democrats cited the bill's failure to rein in the ongoing and unprecedented level of White House corruption made possible by Donald Trump and his family's entry into the cryptocurrency industry, including stablecoin, enabling billionaires, dictators, and unsavory characters worldwide to enrich Trump in exchange for favors right there on their phones. Yet the slightly revised version of the legislation Cortez Masto, Rosen and 14 other Senate Democrats accepted Monday 'does nothing—nothing—to rein in the President's crypto corruption,' said Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a floor speech rallying a majority of her fellow Democrats to vote against the legislation. 'This is not the first time Congress listened to the financial industry and created a weak regulatory regime for a new, innovative financial product,' Warren warned her colleagues. 'We've seen this story before, and we know how it ends.' Warren, whose sharp critique of policies that led to the Great Recession heightened her national profile in the late aughts, reminded the senators of the Commodities Futures Modernization Act which passed during the last year of the Clinton Administration. At that time people said 'surely some kind of regulatory framework was better than nothing,' Warren noted, 'so Congress created a weak set of rules that was loaded with loopholes – just as the industry wanted. The result was a disaster: derivatives moved from the edge of the financial system to the center of it.' 'Now we are back, doing the same thing yet again,' Warren said. As if underscoring Warren's point — that people are yet again saying something's better than nothing — Cortez Masto said in a statement provided by her office Wednesday that Congress needs 'to do more to regulate cryptocurrencies' and the GENIUS Act is 'the first step to ensure stablecoins issued in the United States are not used to scam or defraud people or facilitate illicit finance, while also providing regulatory clarity our domestic industry needs to innovate here at home.' Similarly, Rosen's office provided a statement Wednesday saying cryptocurrency 'is an emerging industry that is in urgent need of regulation' and Rosen 'voted to advance bipartisan legislation to open the door for regulating cryptocurrency. This bill is not the only action Congress should take on crypto regulation, but it is an important step to protect consumers and support America's innovation.' Both statements from Nevada's senators echo the industry narrative, also fully embraced by Trump, that stablecoin and other variations of crypto are a vital innovation that must be promoted in the name of the national interest. And both statements, again echoing the industry narrative, fail to clearly explain why that is. Cryptocurrency is undoubtedly a growth industry. But as it increasingly integrates into the financial system, one signature characteristic it brings along is extreme volatility. (Related note: Coinbase, the leading crypto exchange, became the first exchange to be added to the S&P 500 this week, so there's a good chance crypto is now in your retirement fund.) In addition to volatility — and of course crypto bros, who will be convening in Las Vegas next week for the Super Bowl of crypto — cryptocurrency is also famous for money laundering and fraud schemes. (On comparably rare occasions it also serves its long ago originally advertised use, as a legitimate alternative form of payment for a product or a service.) But far and away its largest use is as just another speculative investment, like, oh, orange juice futures, except with no correlation to anything that exists in the material world; for breakfast, nobody orders a glass of fresh squeezed hype. When members of Congress talk about innovation and, as Rosen put it, 'an emerging industry,' they are implying there is some magical but practical and immensely useful economic function only crypto can do. Meanwhile, the wider world awaits clearly articulated instruction on what indispensable (yet legal) thing crypto can do that oldy timey money can't, and why it isn't doing it already. To be fair, there is one function that, while not new or unique — every industry does it — is something the crypto industry has proven it can do uniquely well: Raise money to spend against candidates that don't support the industry's agenda. As many of you will recall, the cryptocurrency industry's PAC raised more money during the 2024 election cycle than any other industry in the U.S. A common critique is that congressional Democratic support for the cryptocurrency industry's political and regulatory agenda, which is also Trump's agenda, is driven not by a vision of crypto playing a beneficial role in the economy and making the world a better place, but fear of the industry's campaign spending. Cortez Masto and Rosen were asked to respond to that critique. In their statements provided by their offices, the request was ignored. The GENIUS Act still needs to survive another Senate vote. Cortez Masto and Rosen are obviously voting for it. Maybe they think there's no way playing laissez faire footsy with investment erotica could upend the entire financial system and crash the economy yet again, let alone so soon. What are the odds? Maybe they're right. But that still leaves another disturbing matter, a broader concern that isn't crypto-specific. People who didn't vote for Trump (a majority of voters and a supermajority of the population) have been wondering if and when Democrats might start standing up to him in an effective way. Democrats have sworn repeatedly they will do that, but have also lamented that they have been presented precious few opportunities to actually thwart Trump because Republicans control all the things. The GENIUS Act needs to pass the Senate with 60 votes. It's an outstanding chance for Democrats to block a Trump/Republican agenda item that most Senate Democrats think is not in the nation's best interest. But some Senate Democrats are going to vote for it and give Trump the win anyway. That includes both senators from Nevada, who more than any other U.S. senators should know better.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women raise awareness
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – As the president aims to root out diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government, some lawmakers say important policy documents have been swept up with it. That includes a report aimed at addressing missing and murdered indigenous people. 'It's really kind of a slap in the face of the community that we're trying to work with and protect,' said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.). Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto's bipartisan 'Not Invisible Act' created the commission that reported those recommendations. President Trump signed it into law his first term, with the White House at the time touting him as, 'the first president to formally recognize the tragedy…', but now the report isn't on the DOJ site anymore. An Interior Department page that links to the DOJ has a note that says links may not work and quote, '…any previously issued diversity, equity, inclusion or gender-related guidance on this webpage should be considered rescinded.' The DOJ does still have a page dedicated to missing or murdered indigenous people that summarizes the report's recommendations. The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment when asked about why the report was removed. Cortez Masto says on this National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, lawmakers and the administration should be working together to address the tragedy. 'This is not a partisan issue. This is bipartisan. We've got great legislation coming from it,' said Cortez Masto. Cortez Masto is currently working to pass two bills aimed at supporting tribal law enforcement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cortez Masto taking over ‘ModSquad' PAC, urges Dems to drop ‘purity tests'
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada will announce Monday that she is taking the reins of a group boosting centrist lawmakers, calling on fellow Democrats to focus on economic issues and drop 'purity tests' that some moderates and progressives alike have cast as damaging to the party. In an interview, Cortez Masto, who is becoming the new honorary chair of the Moderate Democrats PAC, argued that embracing centrism is the key to her party winning back power. She pointed to Democrats' victories in Senate races in four swing states last year that former Vice President Kamala Harris lost. 'Common-sense Democrats are the only group that really outperformed in the 2024 election,' she said. 'That's our path forward.' It's the latest example of Democratic leaders and activists racing to shape the future of the party in the wake of last year's electoral defeat. Cortez Masto is taking over the Moderate Democrats PAC, or 'ModSquad,' as it works to amplify centrists in the party. Democrats have struggled to adapt to a fragmented media environment, most famously on podcasts in last year's elections. And moderate Democrats, in particular, have long complained that their messages are drowned out by extremes. Two leading progressives, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have drawn huge crowds at rallies while touring the country after the election. 'The loudest voices oftentimes that get picked up and amplified by the press and social media are the far left and the far right,' said Cortez Masto. Cortez Masto said Democrats should focus on the economic issues impacting working families and small businesses. She also urged Democrats to listen to their constituents, even when it comes to hot-button issues like immigration. 'If they care about what's happening at the southern border, we talk about it,' she said. 'We talk about securing that southern border, but we can also talk about doing that and also doing comprehensive immigration reform at the same time.' President Donald Trump won back the White House in part due to his strength among voters on immigration. While campaigning on his hardline stance on immigration, he won Cortez Masto's home state of Nevada, the first Republican to carry the state in 20 years, even as Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen narrowly won reelection. He also carried a bigger percentage of Latinos than any other Republican in history. Cortez Masto pushed Democrats to drop 'purity tests,' something Rep. Greg Casar (D-Tex.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus chair, has also called for recently. And she took a shot at the 'defund the police' movement that took off in 2020. 'We also need to be talking about recognizing that our communities want safe communities,' she said. 'That means we don't run around talking about defunding the police. This is just common sense. We actually talk about the issues that we know our constituents care about. Oh my gosh! It's not difficult!' The Moderate Democrats PAC raised $1.2 million in the 2024 election cycle. A PAC adviser granted anonymity to discuss internal operations said its current fundraising is 'already outpacing previous cycles.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Titus rips bill that ‘doesn't do anything about affordable housing'
'That bill doesn't do anything about affordable housing and certainly doesn't require anybody to pay for the infrastructure that's going to be needed for that growth,' Rep. Dina Titus told state lawmakers about a measure the overwhelming majority of them support. (Nevada legislative stream screengrab) U.S. Rep. Dina Titus told state lawmakers Wednesday that efforts to open up more federal lands for development 'doesn't do anything about affordable housing,' and warned of the consequences Nevadans will face as a result of economic and budget policies being pursued by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, both Democrats, reintroduced the Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, commonly referred to as the Clark County Lands Bill, in March. The measure would open 25,000 acres of public land in Southern Nevada that Cortez Masto and Lee say could lead to development of more affordable housing. Opponents warn the bill is a recipe for unsustainable urban sprawl that will not significantly address the housing shortage. In a statement emailed to Nevada Current, Titus said she is opposed to the lands bill as it is currently written, saying it will make 'land available to developers to build more homes that average Nevadans cannot afford.' 'There is no requirement for set-asides for affordable housing in new developments,' in the legislation, Titus said in the email. 'Affordable housing should be the goal of a lands bill, not incidental to it.' Titus sponsored a version of the bill with Cortez Masto in 2021. In a statement, her office said 'it has become clearer since 2021 that developers want to build more expensive homes in the 'ex-urbs,'' and 'the cost of providing infrastructure has become prohibitively expensive' especially considering the impact of Trump's tariffs on building materials. State lawmakers recently passed a resolution backing the passage of the federal bill, which Titus took aim at while addressing them in Carson City. 'You're supporting a lands bill and think that's a silver bullet for affordable housing,' Titus said to legislators. 'That bill doesn't do anything about affordable housing and certainly doesn't require anybody to pay for the infrastructure that's going to be needed for that growth.' When asked about Titus' comments to state lawmakers, Lauren Wodarski, a spokesperson for Cortez Masto, said the senator has repeatedly called for an 'all of the above approach' to address the housing crisis. She also noted the legislation is supported by 'affordable housing organizations and local governments who all agree it is necessary to make more land available for housing development in Southern Nevada.' In her email to the Current, Titus also underscored the point she made to state lawmakers that the lands bill does not take into account 'the cost of providing infrastructure to outlying developments, which taxpayers rather than developers would be required to pay for.' She also said the legislation would 'create new burdens on our limited water supply.' Another 'major flaw' of the federal lands bill is that 'it encourages expensive urban sprawl when there are lands within our existing urban area that could be developed without distant and costly extensions of infrastructure,' Titus noted. A local analysis by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern and the regional planning collaborative known as Southern Nevada Strong has shown significant infill land available. The study, released in February, found 78,285 acres that 'were identified as vacant or underutilized land' and 'approximately 85% (69,300 acres) was classified as vacant, while the remaining 15% was deemed underutilized.' Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has long pushed for more federal land to be opened up as a solution to develop housing. Lombardo sent several letters to the Biden administration last year that blamed the administration for its role in the housing crisis, saying it wasn't doing enough to make more federal land available for housing development. Assembly Joint Resolution 10, which also calls on the federal government to release federal lands, passed April 17, 36-6, with overwhelming support from Democrats and unanimous support from Republicans. Six Democratic Assemblymembers, Natha Anderson, Venicia Considine, Tanya Flanagan, Selena La Rue Hatch, Cinthia Moore, and Howard Watts, voted against the resolution. The measure has not been voted on in the Senate. Titus, who herself served in the Nevada Legislature for two decades prior to winning election to federal office, spent most of her address to state lawmakers warning of a 'tsunami' of challenges coming to Nevada as a result of actions already taken by Trump as well as policies Trump is pushing the Republican held Congress to enact. Trump's sweeping global tariffs will will increase the price not only of consumer goods, but also the cost of housing, Titus said. 'If you're going to put tariffs on construction materials like steel, lumber and aluminum and you're going to try to build affordable housing, those prices are going to go up,' she said. Trump's many tariffs currently in effect include a global 25% levy on aluminum, lumber, and steel. 'Again, that's going to hurt Nevadans and make it harder at a time we need more housing for people to get into a house,' Titus said. Republicans in Congress have also proposed sweeping cuts to various federal programs including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Trump has issued multiple executive orders curtailing, halting or ending altogether federal funding for a host of federal programs. Elon Musk, the billionaire head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has also cut swaths of federal funding, positions and projects. Noting about 30% of Nevada total state government funding comes from the federal government, Titus warned state lawmakers they will be forced to deal with the consequences of federal cuts. 'As y'all have to deal with every day, Nevada requires a balanced budget,' Titus said. 'You're going to have to deal with what's coming on May 1,' she said, referring to the date when the state Economic Forum will set its final budget limits that legislators and the governor must meet when they approve a budget for the upcoming biennium. 'When you get the economic forecast May 1, you'll be hearing how much funds will be cut and how much you can spend. I'm not too optimistic,' Titus said, adding 'it's likely you'll be back in a special session when you figure out just how much it is you're going to have to cut or pay for or eliminate.' 'You have to deal with this firestorm somehow,' she said.
