In the past, immigrants holding many types of work permits received automatic extensions of those permits while applying for renewals to avoid a lapse in authorization due to processing delays. However, the Trump Administration removed that automatic extension, which will make it unjustifiably harder for workers with legal status to continue working – even if an individual applies for a work permit extension as soon as they are able, they could still lose their authorization through no fault of their own.

In the spring, I forced a vote on my resolution to restore the automatic extension and keep people working. While my effort received bipartisan support, the vast majority of Senate Republicans shamefully opposed and blocked it.

The impacts of visa processing delays and chances in policy aren’t hypothetical – the New York Times recently wrote about how some immigrants who have legally worked in elder care facilities for years have lost work authorization because their visa renewals aren’t being processed in time, meaning they lose their jobs and nursing homes lose dedicated, experienced workers. You can read that story here.

Many industries – like health care and construction – that are already understaffed will lose employees if these processing delays continue. When we have fewer workers, prices go up.

For this reason, I’ve urged USCIS to address the severe backlogs of applications. Here’s some of what I wrote in my letter:

These delays are impacting the timely processing of Employment Authorization Document (EAD) applications and renewals, with a backlog of nearly 12 million visa applications at USCIS. Due to the growing backlog, it is possible that USCIS can receive a visa application on time, but not issue a receipt in a timely manner, leaving the applicant without the necessary proof to obtain a work authorization, at no fault of their own.

These delays are concerning given that many of these individuals are working in critical industries, including healthcare, education, and construction, where a gap in employment can have significant impact not only for working families, but also for the communities and local economies that rely on their contributions. When EAD’s are not issued in a timely manner due to staffing shortages and lack of resources, recipients lose employment authorization, employers experience workforce disruptions, and families struggle to support themselves as jobs in the community go unfilled.

USCIS needs to rectify these processing delays to keep legal workers working.

My incredible casework team is always here to assist our veterans. In honor of National Purple Heart Day, I’d like to tell you about two recent cases where my office helped Nevada veterans secure Purple Heart medals they earned.

Earlier this year, we heard from a veteran from Sparks who served in the Vietnam War.

Former Army Staff Sergeant Thomas Martin was injured by a punji stake during combat operations in 1967. Nearly sixty years later, he still had not received the Purple Heart he earned due to administrative delays.

SSGT Martin contacted my office for assistance, and my team and I pushed the U.S. Army to evaluate the matter. I’m proud to say we were successful in getting the Army to retroactively award Staff Sergeant Martin with his long-overdue, well-deserved Purple Heart.

My team in Las Vegas was also honored to assist Retired Sergeant First Class Thomas Koehler, who was injured in the line of duty in 2005 during his service to our nation in Iraq.

SFC Koehler was medically retired from the Army in 2016, and continued serving the local military and veteran community as a Veteran Service Officer.

When SFC Koehler contacted my team to help him secure his Purple Heart, we got it done in less than 60 days. I had the pleasure of presenting him with the medal myself during a ceremony in Las Vegas.

Nevada veterans can always count on me to have their backs.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my work. You can also contact my office, find me on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, or sign up for my e-newsletter for more information.

Trump’s nominee for Ambassador to Slovakia, Doug Mastriano, has compared abortion and his gubernatorial campaign loss to the Holocaust and has kept close ties to a known Holocaust conspiracy theorist. Mastriano has also called the separation of church and state a myth, and has parroted conspiracy theories about 9/11. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, I asked him about these comments. Here’s our exchange:

Me: Mr. Mastriano, in October 2022, your wife said at one of your campaign events that the two of you “probably love Israel more than a lot of Jews do.” Yes or no, do you agree with that statement?

Mastriano: Both Rebbie and I have a deep love and appreciation for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.

Me: I appreciate that. So can you confirm that you’ve repeatedly compared things to the Holocaust, such as abortion or your loss to Governor Shapiro? Just a yes or no, have you compared those things to the Holocaust?

Mastriano: I have been working closely with the Jewish community for Senate Bill 127 in Pennsylvania to institute Holocaust education across the state, and I think any use of comparisons is unwise.

Me: So you’re saying you didn’t make those statements?

Mastriano: No, I think it diminishes, and today I would not do that.

Me: So you made the statements but you are renouncing the statements.

Mastriano: There was a social media post that I would not post today, I think anything that uses the Holocaust to make a modern comparison is unwise.

Me: Well, I appreciate that because you will be representing the United States in Slovakia, where nearly 69,000 Slovak Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, over 75% of the entire Slovak Jewish population, and so we have to be sure that you will represent this country. We know that you’ve maintained a relationship with Andrew Torba, founder of extremist social platform Gab. Gab became notorious after the gunman who murdered 11 worshipers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue posted his manifesto there. And so despite his documented history of antisemitism, the rhetoric, the Holocaust denialism, your campaign paid Gab for promotional services. I want to finish with this for now, you can denounce your past associations with antisemites, you can point to your support of Israel, but for me I’m not sure that neither excuses you or erases the record.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my work. You can also contact my office, find me on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, or sign up for my e-newsletter for more information.

Under Todd Blanche’s supervision, the Department of Justice has completely mishandled the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell case. Todd Blanche met with Maxwell – who was sentenced to 20 years for her role in grooming and trafficking underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein – in order to get her to say positive things about Trump. She was soon after transferred to a minimum-security prison. In a podcast interview, Blanche called Maxwell’s lawyer “a friend” and “someone I know pretty well.” At the same time, Donald Trump has refused to rule out a pardon for Maxwell.

Here’s what I said:

Tomorrow, the Judiciary Committee will vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination for Attorney General.

While there are a number of reasons why the members of the committee should oppose Todd Blanche’s nomination – from his willingness to enable Donald Trump’s worst instincts, to his role in helping create Trump’s corrupt slush fund to pay out January 6 rioters who assaulted police officers and others – there is one reason that stands out far ahead of the others.

It’s his complete and total mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell case.

Former Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi told the House behind closed doors that Todd Blanche, as her deputy, was responsible for how the Department handled the Epstein files.

Under his supervision, the Department of Justice promised the release of Epstein’s client list, claiming there was a list they had compiled for and sent to Pam Bondi – only to backtrack and refuse to release documents for months.

It took Congress passing an overwhelmingly bipartisan, veto-proof federal law to force the release of these materials.

Even then, the Trump Administration – and specifically the Department of Justice under Todd Blanche’s management – delayed their compliance with this law.

When files were finally released, the identities of many perpetrators – not victims – were redacted, raising serious questions and concerns about who the Administration was trying to protect. They redacted perpetrators, not victims.

And as the White House and Justice Department tried to manage the fallout from their mishandling of this case, Todd Blanche was reportedly in the Situation Room with senior Trump Administration officials working on a public relations strategy on behalf of the president.

According to the New York Times, one of the options was to have a Justice Department lawyer interview Ghislaine Maxwell in order to get her to clear Donald Trump.

Well, Todd Blanche apparently offered himself up to interview Ghislaine Maxwell and strangely raised the possibility that Maxwell’s lawyer, quote: “might expect something in return for her candor,” end quote, according to the Times. A convicted sex trafficker wants something in return from the president of the United States

The White House Counsel then laid out the possibility that Ghislaine Maxwell may be pardoned or have her sentence reduced.

You heard that right. There was a serious discussion at the White House to pardon or reduce the sentence of Ghislaine Maxwell, in order to get her to say nice things about Donald Trump.

Mind you, this is the same woman, the same woman who facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific abuse of underage girls over many years, year after year, hundreds of young women.

Our justice system worked as it is supposed to. Maxwell was found guilty by a jury of her peers. She was sentenced to twenty years in prison for her crimes.

And that’s why it was odd when Todd Blanche, in a highly unusual step, personally interviewed Maxwell, and days later, she was magically transferred to a minimum-security prison. Magic act.

But that’s not the only thing that’s odd.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney, who Todd Blanche calls a friend, said that Maxwell wanted a pardon from Trump in exchange for her public testimony that would help Donald Trump.

At the same time, Trump has refused to rule out pardoning her.

Trump has said, I’m gonna quote here: “I’m allowed to do it,” end quote. And he has even gone so far as saying, quote: “I’ll take a look at it. I’ll speak to the DoJ”

The president has said he would have to speak to the DoJ, which would now be led by his former lawyer Todd Blanche.

It’s frankly horrifying that Trump would entertain the idea of clemency even for a second. Even a second for a convicted sex trafficker

That alone should be enough for the Senate to speak up with one voice and affirm that there should be absolutely no pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Not now, not ever.

That’s why earlier this year I introduced a resolution doing just that.

But given that Senate Republicans are poised to soon confirm Todd Blanche to lead the Department of Justice, the time to bring this resolution is now.

Earlier this month, the Senate passed a similar resolution saying there should be no presidential pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried.

So we have already set that precedent here in this chamber.

So let’s now send a message to the White House and Department of Justice right now that there should be no pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.

There should never be a pardon for someone who helped a monster abuse underage girls for years.

That’s why I’m requesting that we pass my commonsense resolution today saying just that.

The Senate then passed my resolution without objection. Here was my response:

I’m so pleased that we could find unanimous agreement on a resolution against a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.

If the nomination of Todd Blanche is confirmed during the Judiciary Committee, this is the least they can do to make their opposition to a Maxwell pardon clear.

This incident raises a lot of serious questions about how ICE agents are continuing to act with impunity. Actions like this public, violent arrest attempt instill fear in our communities and scare away tourists – further hurting Nevada’s economy.

In light of the fact that this arrest attempt occurred at one of our airports, I demanded answers from David Cummins, Trump’s nominee to become TSA Administrator, given that the TSA has authority of security at our airports. Here are the questions I asked him:

1. Mr. Cummins, we know that TSA has entered into an information sharing agreement with ICE. Does this agreement require proof from ICE that the individuals they are requesting information about have active warrants against them? If you are confirmed, and if the agreement does not require evidence from ICE, will you commit to requiring ICE to provide evidence of an active warrant before information is shared or before TSA assists in ICE enforcement actions in airports?
   

2. Does TSA have any policy regarding how law enforcement agencies are to identify themselves when they are in airports or when attempting to take enforcement actions in airports? If not, how would you address this if confirmed?
   

3. Does ICE agents failing to identify themselves or masking their identities with face coverings jeopardize passengers’ safety and security? Would you allow this if confirmed?
   

4. I know that you were a long time Senior Vice President at Serco, who are contracted with the Government to provide training to ICE officers. To your knowledge, has Serco in the past or currently trained ICE agents on how to conceal or mask their identities?

As you can see, I asked him about what he would do in the position of TSA Administrator if confirmed. His answer to each one of these questions?

“Currently, I am not privy to that information.”

As someone nominated to run the federal agency in charge of security at our nation’s airports, Mr. Cummins needs to commit to preventing abuses like the one we saw last week in the future.

Unfortunately, he refused to make that commitment. As a result, I voted against his confirmation in committee to be TSA Administrator.

I will continue to demand answers from the Department of Homeland Security and do all I can to hold ICE accountable for these outrageous abuses of power that make our community less safe. ICE cannot continue to act with impunity as senior members of this Administration stand by silently.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my work. You can also contact my office, find me on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, or sign up for my e-newsletter for more information.

From social media to college campuses, we’ve seen how antisemitic bigotry manifests into real-world violence against Jews. That’s why we must take concrete steps to understand the extent of antisemitism – both online and offline – and ensure that Jewish communities have access to robust security resources and government protections.

I was proud to introduce the Jewish American Security Act with Senator Lankford to strengthen efforts to fight antisemitism at the federal level and keep Jewish Americans safe.

This comprehensive bill will strengthen federal efforts to fight antisemitism – including in U.S. academic settings, at Jewish communal institutions, and online. The bipartisan Jewish American Security Act would require the Department of Education to develop and implement a comprehensive Title VI framework to combat antisemitism on college campuses, make a historic $1 billion investment in security resources for at-risk houses of worship and other non-profit institutions, and hold large social media platforms accountable by requiring transparency regarding their handling of antisemitic content online.

After introducing my bill, I gave a major speech on the Senate floor to talk about the rise of antisemitism in the United States.

Here’s what I said:

I am compelled to start my remarks today by highlighting absolutely horrible things that were posted by someone who wants to serve as a Member of Congress and who is allegedly a member of the Democratic Party.

Running for a House seat in Texas, she said she wanted to “turn an ICE detention Center into a prison for American Zionists.”

Yes, you heard that right.

And while this is clear and direct antisemitism that everyone – on both sides – have rightfully called out, it’s not the first time that she’s shown herself to be an antisemite.

Earlier this month, it was reported that she posted a video where she talked about the “Jews who own Hollywood” as members of “the Synagogue of Satan.”

I called it out right away, but – perhaps because this was not as overt as calling for putting Jews in internment camps – it did not get the same overwhelming condemnation as her more recent comments.

Similarly, there was a Republican Member of Congress in Kentucky who lost his primary election just last night and made a joke in his concession speech that his opponent was “in Tel Aviv” simply because he is a strong supporter of Israel.

It similarly did not get an avalanche of condemnation.

Mr. President, there lies the problem.

It usually starts with a “joke,” a slur, a comparison. It starts with what might be called “casual” acts of antisemitism, that can be just easy to brush off.

If left unchecked, this rhetoric can manifest into overt acts, like the vandalism of Jewish institutions and houses of worship, threats and verbal abuse meant to intimidate Jewish communities, and so on, and so on, and so on.

If those acts are left unchecked, the next and final step is physical violence: beating up Jewish college students, arson and destruction of Jewish institutions, and horrifically, the murder of Jewish individuals.

These are patterns that are starting to emerge once again.

Over the last decade, antisemitism has been on the rise. Year after year we’re seeing record numbers of antisemitic incidents – especially after the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel.

According to an ADL report released a few weeks ago, 2025 was the third-highest year for antisemitic incidents since the ADL began collecting data, and physical assaults against Jews were higher in 2025 than ever before.

Just think about that, physical assaults against Jews were at the highest since ADL began tracking this data nearly fifty years ago.

You know, we are fortunate to live in a country that values and protects our freedom to express our beliefs – with our words, through acts of peaceful protest, and at the ballot box. But it does not protect or condone acts of violence or incitement of violence.

Surely, we can all recognize that political and ideological disagreements and differences never, never ever, justify hatred or violence.

We all must agree that the intimidation, discrimination, violence, and even murder of Jews is just plain wrong and unacceptable.

As one of only a few Jewish women to ever serve in the United States Senate, and as the first and only former synagogue president in the Senate, for me, this distinction is deeply personal.

This work is not abstract.

As a Jewish American, I – too – have faced instances of hate, where I was targeted simply because I was Jewish.

When I was just a little girl, about two years old, my family took a trip to Florida.

My mom had me in the hotel pool and, out of nowhere, a lifeguard told my mom to get me out of the pool because I was “dirty.”

My mom was confused, she was kind of taken aback, she looked at the lifeguard and said she had just given me a bath, I was clean – she was clearly confused by what the lifeguard had told her.

Then, the lifeguard told my mom what he really meant… I was dirty because I was Jewish. “Get that dirty little Jewish girl out of the pool.”

My mom didn’t say another word.

She scooped me up, she packed up our stuff, and we left. I know she never brought me back to that pool. In fact, my parents switched us to another hotel.

I know this story so well because my mother told it over and over and over again as a life-changing moment for her. I heard my parents recall the pain throughout my entire life.

It stayed with them.

The hurt. The humiliation. The shame.

And as I got older, and now my parents are gone, that story stays with me, too.

And if you think becoming a United States Senator puts a stop to those attacks, then I want to tell you that you’re sadly mistaken.

A few years ago, a man called my office and said some very vile things. He threatened my life and, among other things, he promised to, “finish what Hitler started.”

Thanks to the swift work of law enforcement, and I am grateful for law enforcement, this man is now behind bars.

But if he thought that he would intimidate me and force me to be quiet, the effect was quite the opposite, because here I am. Here I am.

He fueled my passion to continue working across party lines in the United States Senate to raise awareness and fight back against anti-Jewish bigotry.

That’s why I’ve been working for the better part of a year with my friend James Lankford on our bipartisan Jewish American Security Act, which we introduced yesterday, to take sweeping action to combat antisemitism at the federal level.

This comprehensive bill will help keep Jewish students safe, help secure community institutions, and help fight antisemitism online.

It will protect Jewish students by establishing a new position – an Antisemitism Coordinator at the Department of Education – to lead efforts to combat antisemitism. It will create a comprehensive Title VI infrastructure on college campuses, and it will make sure that campus hate crime data actually shows all of us who is being attacked and who is being threatened.

This bill will protect Jewish communal institutions – houses of worship, community centers – by making a historic investment of one billion dollars towards the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to keep our houses of worship safe.

This bill will also make a series of long overdue reforms to this program to make sure it actually works for at-risk institutions.

And this bill will combat rising antisemitism online by requiring transparency from social media companies about how they treat antisemitic content, including instances of such content, how much antisemitic content was promoted or recommended by their platform, whether such content was linked to an inauthentic account, and consider it an FTC violation if they fail to provide this information.

I know the road ahead for this legislation will be long, but I am hopeful that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will provide their support, because at the end of the day, we can all agree that Jewish Americans deserve to be treated – and to be safe – treated with respect the same as any other American.

But at its core, this is more than just about policy.

It is about people. It is about dignity. It is about ensuring that no child, no family, no little girl like I was at a public swimming pool, had to experience what I did, and my family did, or even worse.

I often think back to that little girl at the pool. She’s still there.

And I think about the world I want for her.

A world where she is not told she is less than for being Jewish.

A world where she is not excluded from activities because of her faith.

A world where she is safe, respected, and proud of who she is.

I have a daughter, and that’s the world I’m creating and hoping for for her, and for all the other children in this world as well.

And this bill will go a long way in helping make a difference and in making that world a reality.

Now more than ever, we need to take a stand to protect all religious communities from hate and violence.

You can find a summary of all parts of this bipartisan bill HERE.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my legislative work. You can also contact my office, find me on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, or sign up for my e-newsletter for more information.

Restricting access to mifepristone unnecessarily puts women’s lives at risk. This is yet another example of Trump and extreme Republicans trying to restrict a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.

The resolution came as the Supreme Court’s initial administrative stay in Louisiana v. FDA was set to expire — which would have allowed the Fifth Circuit’s ruling to go into effect, threatening millions of women’s access to mifepristone, even in states where abortion is legal. The Supreme Court eventually ruled to extend the stay until the case makes it through the legal process, allowing mifepristone to remain available via telehealth.

While this case progresses, I’ll keep doing everything that I can to protect women’s reproductive rights.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my legislative work. You can also contact my office, find me on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, or sign up for my e-newsletter for more information.

During a hearing of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, I pushed Energy Secretary Chris Wright into admitting that a resumption of explosive nuclear testing – which would occur at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) – is not necessary. The Trump Administration has expressed interest in resuming explosive nuclear testing, which would break the testing moratorium signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992, and restart nuclear testing at the NNSS.

Since the moratorium was put in place, the U.S. has continued to certify the military effectiveness of our nation’s nuclear stockpile, through state-of-the-art, science-based subcritical experiments conducted at the Site that ensure we never have to detonate another nuclear weapon on U.S. soil again. These experiments provide greater certainty and data about the performance of the stockpile, experts say, than the information that could be obtained if the U.S. were to conduct an explosive nuclear test.

Here’s what I asked him:

“Secretary Wright, citing your impressive educational resume in engineering from MIT and Berkley, and with so many experts in agreement that there is no technical or strategic need to resume explosive nuclear testing, can you commit today that this Administration will not conduct an explosive nuclear test, YES or NO?”

This was Secretary Wright’s response:

“Well Senator Rosen, ultimately that decision comes down to the Commander-in-Chief.”

So I pressed him again:

“So you will disagree then with your extensive educational achievements, studies, and as a scientist, disagree with scientists and administrations going back to the 1990s and the data that shows renewed explosive testing is unnecessary? You think there is still a need for that? You will disagree with all the experts? Yes or no? Do you agree there is a need for explosive testing or not?”

Finally, I got him to admit that explosive nuclear testing in Nevada is not necessary:

“To assure the reliability of our weapons, there is not a need for explosive testing.”

Explosive nuclear testing has been proven to be unnecessary by experts, and I’ll fight against any and all efforts by this Administration to resume this unnecessary and reckless testing.

I look forward to keeping you updated on my legislative work. You can also contact my office, find me on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram, or sign up for my e-newsletter for more information.

My office released an estimate of how this funding could be used to help Nevadans instead of funding Donald Trump’s ballroom:

Health Care:

• $1 billion could pay for Medicaid coverage for a full year for the Nevadans who lost it due to Trump and Washington Republicans’ cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

  • 167,714 fewer Nevadans were enrolled in Medicaid as of January 2026 when compared to 2023.

  • $5,052 is the average annual spending on Medicaid per enrollee in Nevada.

• $1 billion could have extended the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credit for nearly two years for every Nevadan who relied on it last year.

  • In 2025, 95,000 Nevadans relied on these tax credits to help them afford health insurance and saved an average of $465 a month per enrollee.

Food:

• $1 billion could restore SNAP benefits for nearly a decade for every Nevadan who was kicked off this food assistance program due to Trump and Washington Republicans’ cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

  • 54,979 Nevadans were kicked off the program between July 2025 and January 2026.

  • Average yearly SNAP benefit per person is $1,992.

• $1 billion could fund Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) benefits for all Nevadans in the program for nearly 20 years.

  • According to state data, 52,677 Nevadans rely on WIC.

  • WIC provided an average of $978.12 per participant per year.

• $1 billion could cover groceries for 96,246 Nevada families for a full year.

  • According to most recent data, the average household in Nevada spends on average $10,390 dollars on groceries per year.

Housing:

• $1 billion could pay for a year of rent for about 62,096 Nevada households.

  • The average rent in Nevada is approximately $1,342.

Child Care:

• $1 billion could cover the average cost of child care for 78,995 Nevada infants for a full year.

  • The average cost of child care in Nevada for a year per infant is $12,659.

Other:

• Congressional Republicans want to let Trump spend $1 billion of taxpayer money on his new ballroom, which is the same amount Nevada received in federal funding for our Transportation, Education, and Agriculture departments combined last year.

While Americans struggle to put food on the table, health care and housing become more unattainable, and gas prices are soaring, Washington Republicans are focused on pleasing Donald Trump by funding his vanity project instead of helping out hardworking families being hurt by their policies – and that is unfair to the American people. We need to focus on solving the real problems Americans are facing.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, I called out Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over his use of an antisemitic trope against the media and Democrats. Hegseth has repeatedly used the term “Pharisees,” a deeply problematic term that has been used historically to depict Jewish communities as hypocritical or morally corrupt.

Here’s what I asked him:

“You keep doubling down on this phrase, Mr. Secretary. You compare journalists, you compare us, you compare so many to Pharisees. Pharisees, it’s a problematic and historically weaponized term that casts Jewish communities as hypocritical or morally corrupt, you doubled down again and said it. Words matter. Words matter. What you choose to say. How we choose to say it. How do you justify using this language as Secretary of Defense?

Words matter. It’s a hurt – historically hurtful term. Why do you continue to use it? And what actions are you taking to prevent rhetoric like this from permeating throughout the department that is going to target specific groups or individuals of people based on their religion?”

This was Pete Hegseth’s response:

“Senator, I feel like it’s a pretty accurate term for folks who don’t see the plank in their own eye and always want to see what’s wrong with an operation, as opposed to the historic success of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. So I stand by it.”

After he tripled down on his use of this term with a history of being weaponized against Jewish communities, I called him out:

“You stand by calling people Pharisees? Sir, I cannot, I cannot stand for that. That is wrong. It is not respectful to people, and I expect anyone who is in leadership in our country to be respectful and use respectful terms and not be an antisemite.”

This rhetoric is unacceptable from our Secretary of Defense and another example of Hegseth being absolutely unfit to lead.

As Donald Trump prepares to come to Las Vegas in a desperate attempt to convince Nevadans he’s trying to lower costs, I’m here to talk about what has really been going on in Nevada under the Trump economy.

The number one concern I hear from Nevadans when I’m back home is how expensive everything is.

Gas prices are at their highest levels in years, grocery costs keep climbing, housing continues to be out of reach for too many Nevada families, and health care bills are skyrocketing, and Trump is doing nothing except making things worse.

Meanwhile, our tourism industry – the backbone of Nevada’s economy – is struggling for the first time since the pandemic because of Trump’s reckless actions.

From his cost-raising tariffs to his hostile immigration policies, his unnecessary fights with Canada, his policies are having a clear and direct impact on visitation numbers to Las Vegas.

Making matters worse, Trump and Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” has a hidden provision that is disastrous for Nevada’s gaming industry.

This disaster of a law has effectively enacted an unfair tax burden for players who lose money.

That means that players who come to Nevada to gamble and lose will have to end up paying taxes on the money they lost.

Provisions like this one are still in the tax code and it’s contributing to the decreased visitation numbers.

Not counting the pandemic, 2025 saw the biggest decline in visitation to Las Vegas in over fifty years. Worse than 2008 and 2009 combined.

This means less revenue for our hotels, fewer shifts for our hospitality workers, and fewer tips.

So, if Trump intends to tout policies like No Tax on Tips, hospitality workers in Nevada are left wondering “what difference does it make that I’m not getting taxed on tips when I’m getting less in tips than before?”

And just to be clear, I support any measure that will put more money in our workers’ pockets. That’s why I passed my bipartisan No Tax on Tips bill by unanimous consent in the Senate last year.

But Trump has wreaked havoc on our economy, and he can’t overlook the totality of the situation and how it is hurting our families in Nevada.

What the President needs to do is outline for Nevadans his concrete plans to finally bring down costs and support our tourism industry.

Half measures and promises to lower costs won’t work. He already made those promises when he was running for president, but now we see costs going up instead of down.

Nevadans sent me to the Senate to fight for them – and I promised to fight for Nevada regardless of who was in the White House.

As Donald Trump has done the opposite of what he campaigned on, I’ve had to do a lot of fighting back.

You’ve probably heard a lot about it. And today, I want to show you that when we fight, we can win.

Let’s start where your day begins: at the kitchen table.

Over the past few weeks, gas prices in Nevada have hit four-year highs. In fact, Nevada is one of the states being hit the hardest with the cost of a gallon of gas almost a dollar more than the national average.

Right now, that means it costs more to fill up your car. But in the long run, higher gas prices also mean that it costs more to power tractors on the farms where they grow your food and fuel the trucks that bring your food to the market – and that will make your grocery bill even more expensive.

That’s why I called on Donald Trump to use any means available to try to provide relief at the gas pump – including by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And not long after I sent a letter to the president making my case for him to release some of this oil, he did.

This is obviously a temporary measure, and we must do far more to bring gas prices back down for Nevadans – but it shows that Trump is feeling the pressure from hardworking families who are sick and tired of paying for his reckless actions.

While Nevadans are being squeezed by high prices, our travel and tourism industry is under pressure from the Trump Administration’s hostile actions.

A few weeks ago, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced plans to suspend the Global Entry program, which expedites U.S. customs and immigration clearance for pre-vetted, low-risk travelers entering the United States.

Kristi Noem blamed the shutdown of her Department as her reason for closing Global Entry. But this program is mainly funded by fees paid by enrollees, not a budget allocated by Congress.

Her decision was part of a concerning trend we’ve seen time and time again from the Trump Administration – they weaponize their authority to pick and choose which government services to provide or withhold to maximize their political leverage.

It was also an attack on our hospitality industry in Nevada. The suspension of Global Entry would make airports less efficient, meaning wait times would be even longer, and traveling would be more difficult, discouraging international visitors from traveling to the U.S. – and when visitation numbers drop, our economy suffers.

That’s why I pushed Kristi Noem to immediately reopen Global Entry – and she did.

And that’s my job as Nevada’s Senator: when a policy from ANY Administration – Democrat or Republican – hurts my state, I fight back.

I want to tell you one more success story about standing up to a harmful decision from this Administration.

In Nevada, I’m proud to represent over 200,000 veterans. These men and women bravely served our nation to defend our freedoms.

Last month, Trump’s VA announced a new rule that would have drastically cut benefits for disabled veterans.

It was a slap in the face to our veterans, and I immediately joined them in calling on the Administration to overturn it right away – and they did.

I will always stand up for those who have served our country and work to ensure they have the support and resources they deserve.

I can’t promise that I’ll win every fight. But I can promise that I will never stay silent just because we’re facing an uphill battle – not when Nevadans are suffering because of this Administration’s cruel policies.

I was sent to the Senate to fight for our veterans, for our hospitality workers, and for hardworking families just trying to put food on the table– and I will never forget why I’m here.

Watch my full remarks on the Senate floor here.

Below is a transcript of my remarks:

As we enter spring and schools across the nation approach their Spring Breaks, millions of families will soon be traveling.

They’ll be relying on our airports to travel, to visit family, to go on vacation.

But unfortunately, they will be met with longer lines because Washington Republicans refuse to pay our TSA agents.

That’s right. The Department of Homeland Security is currently without funding because Washington Republicans would rather see it shut down than pass commonsense guardrails on ICE.

In fact, every Senate Republican present voted just this past weekend against paying our TSA agents.

As a result, the American people are paying the price.

And when TSA staffing levels drop because officers aren’t getting paid, wait times at airport security checkpoints stretch longer and longer.

This doesn’t just inconvenience travelers, it undermines security and directly threatens jobs and livelihoods.

The situation is so dire at our airports that the Trump Administration is going to send untrained ICE agents to our airports, untrained ICE agents to try to do the job of our highly trained TSA agents.

That’s why I rise yet again with a simple, practical proposal to pay our hardworking TSA agents, pay them right now. They deserve it.

If we cannot move forward with funding for the entire Department of Homeland Security, we should at least be able to come together on this.

The Trump Administration and Senate leadership are having ongoing negotiations on the guardrails on ICE, and TSA officers should not be caught in the middle of that fight.

So, today I’m asking my colleagues to take just a simple step: pass my legislation right now to pay TSA workers, so that commercial air travel remains safe and functional.

And let me just say this: claiming that you will not pay TSA agents because this bill doesn’t fund the entire Department, it is an excuse.

If Washington Republicans truly believe that, then why did they agree to fund literally everything else in our government except for DHS?

If it has to be all-or-nothing like they’re now claiming, then why agree to fund the parts of our government where we have an agreement and leave DHS unfunded?

I can tell you why: because they know it’s the right thing to do. They know that other government employees shouldn’t be penalized for the President’s mass deportation agenda.

And that’s why we’re asking for this today. Don’t penalize TSA and the traveling public for the fact that you refuse to rein in ICE and have them be accountable, have them be trained, transparent, and accountable like every other law enforcement agency in this country.

It’s easy to forget a time before the ACA, when insurance companies could deny you coverage or charge you more simply because you had a pre-existing condition — or even kick you off of your plan if you got sick and were too expensive to care for.

Women could be charged more than men for coverage, and plans didn’t have to cover essential health benefits — including care as fundamental as maternity coverage.

The ACA changed all of that.

Democrats built on this landmark law and helped millions of Americans afford health care by passing legislation that created enhanced premium tax credits to lower costs even more for people who bought their insurance through the marketplace.

Unfortunately, those enhanced premium tax credits expired last year because Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress refused to work with Democrats to extend them and prevent a massive increase in health care costs for over twenty million Americans.

Because of Washington Republicans’ inaction, health care costs are up for nearly everyone and many can no longer afford insurance, or have been forced to select plans with much higher deductibles and out of pocket costs.

If Congress doesn’t do anything to lower prices, more Americans are expected to drop their coverage as time goes on because premiums are just too high.

And Washington Republicans aren’t stopping there. Many want to weaken the ACA, or even repeal it entirely, bringing us back to a time when you could lose your insurance just for getting sick.

Your health is the most important thing you have, and I will continue working in the Senate to protect the Affordable Care Act and bring down health care prices so cost is never a barrier to seeing a doctor or getting your medication.

Watch my full remarks HERE.

Read a transcript of my remarks on the Senate floor:

“We’re almost a month into the Republican shutdown of Homeland Security. The Republicans control the house, the white house, and the senate so let’s remember how we got here. Donald Trump and Kristi Noem were so, so eager to carry out their cruel deportation agenda that they cut training for ice officers from five months — imagine this — to 47 days.

“Why 47 days? Well, you can’t even make it up. Because it honors Donald Trump, who is the 47th president. You cut down 500 days to 47 days. What are you thinking about adequate training? By cutting training, increasing recruitment, Trump and Kristi Noem sent thousands of untrained agents with their guns and badges into communities all across this country.

“They added deportation quotas for these officers to meet, and Trump and Kristi Noem pushed these untrained officers to round up as many people as they could, and that included legal immigrants and American citizens.

“Instead of focusing on deporting violent criminals – something we all agree on – they went after legal permanent residents, visa holders, and law-abiding citizens, all with devastating consequences, when we saw two of our fellow Americans brutally murdered in Minneapolis..

“The American people were rightfully horrified and angry, and they demanded accountability -which is exactly what Senate Democrats are pushing for.

“We proposed a commonsense and basic idea: that ICE officers should be required to follow the same standards that local law enforcement officers should be required to follow. The same standards that law enforcement, all of my colleagues here, your local law enforcement have to follow. That’s it. We want ICE officers to: Wear body cams, To end roving patrols, To use judicial warrants, And to respect people’s rights.

“It should be a no-brainer.

“Democrats have been ready and willing in good faith to enact these commonsense reforms, fund the department and keep our country safe, and shamefully, our Republican colleagues have refused to pass these reforms. They would rather see the Department of Homeland Security shutdown than pass commonsense guardrails to hold ICE accountable, rein them in.

“As a result, the American people are paying the price.

“Travelers at our airports seeing longer lines, TSA officers being forced to work without pay.

“I know how serious the situation is. My state relies heavily on tourism. More than 50 million visitors travel to Nevada every year to attend conventions, visit our beautiful public lands, enjoy live entertainment, sports, and we support hundreds of thousands of hospitality workers. Air travel, the gateway to our economy.

“So when TSA staffing levels drop because officers aren’t getting paid, wait times at airport security checkpoints, they stretch longer and longer. It doesn’t just inconvenience travelers. It does inconvenience security, threatens livelihoods across our states.

“That’s why I rise today with a very simple, practical proposal: If we cannot move forward with funding the entire department, sitting down and negotiating in good faith, we should be able to come together to pay the hardworking staff of one of its most essential components: TSA.

“Let’s not have TSA officers be caught in the middle of this fight. They don’t deserve it. We all agree their salaries should be funded, so let’s do it.

“Today I am going to ask my colleagues to take a simple step, let’s pass my legislation right now, pay TSA workers, so that commercial air travel remains safe and functional, and our TSA agents receive the pay they have earned.

“I am introducing this bill today with Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cantwell so that we can finally get our airports moving again.

“If Republicans are going to insist on shutting down the Department of Homeland Security, they should at the very least join us in ensuring the traveling public does not pay the price.

“They even implied in their own tweet that they’re for funding TSA. Tweets are easy. Talk is easy. Will they back up what they say with their vote, we’re about to find out. So, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4073 submitted earlier today that would fund the TSA. That the bill be considered a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.”

This extreme tax and spending law includes the biggest cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in American history, kicking thousands of Nevadans off their health care and risking kids going to bed hungry just to pay for more tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.

I fought all through the night – voting for more than 24 hours on the floor of the U.S. Senate – to stop this cruel bill from passing. But time and time again, Republicans doubled down and rejected even the most basic protections for Medicaid and SNAP recipients, rural hospitals, and job-creating clean energy tax credits.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most harmful parts of this Republican bill.

NEW LAW SLASHES MEDICAID AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

More than 700,000 Nevadans rely on Medicaid – including veterans, people with cancer and chronic illnesses, and seniors in nursing homes. Over the past few months, I’ve heard heartbreaking stories from Nevadans who are alive today thanks to medical care they get through Medicaid. It’s literally a LIFELINE.

But because of Congressional Republicans’ cruel Medicaid cuts, more than 100,000 Nevadans could lose this lifeline. And it’s not just individual Medicaid recipients who will be hurt by cuts to Medicaid, it’s also our hospitals. According to a new report, Republicans’ extreme cuts would slash nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in funding for Nevada hospitals, which could lead to limited services or even forced closures and make it harder for ALL families to access care. Nevadans with health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace could also see their premiums skyrocket by hundreds of dollars every year.

The Republican law also cuts SNAP – a critical food assistance program that helps working families put food on the table and keeps kids from going to bed hungry. And it’s all so funding that could be used to help keep people healthy and fed will instead pay for more tax breaks for billionaires.

WHO ARE THE WINNERS?

Hardworking Nevadans will be hurt by this big betrayal. So who’s it all for? Nonpartisan analysis shows that billionaires get the benefits of huge tax cuts on the backs of Americans who need help the most. In fact, this is the BIGGEST wealth transfer to the ultra-wealthy in our nation’s history.

We should be building an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That’s what I’ll keep fighting for as Nevada’s United States Senator.