Strong: ‘Tell me about Jacky Rosen’

“My faith has always been a core part of my values and my work in the Senate. I'm guided and motivated by the Jewish principle of ‘Tikkun Olam,’ which means to repair the world and leave it in a better place than how we found it.”

— Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., email, Dec. 11, 2023.

The 2023 Fallon Cantaloupe Festival opened Aug. 25. A friend and I were volunteering that evening at the Churchill County Democrats’ booth at the festival. We were near the exhibits building, so there were lots of people around.

We didn’t have much interaction with anyone until a young man about 20 and his friend stopped by. He had seen the yard signs for Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., by the front table. He popped into the booth and said, in a rather belligerent way, “Tell me about Jacky Rosen.” So I did.

I reminded him that Rosen helped create the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which included more than $416 million to expand high-speed internet, a modern necessity, across our state. “For far too many Nevadans, high-speed internet is unaffordable or entirely inaccessible because of where they live. This digital divide is so significant that many Nevadans lack the resources they need to use even the most basic internet services.” (Reno Gazette Journal, July 23, 2023)

To correct this, the Infrastructure Law provides funding which will give internet access to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Nevada. This will allow schoolchildren access to their school lessons, patients access to their health care providers, and businesses access to their customers and suppliers. The economic benefits will be enormous.

After I explained this, I then reminded the young man that the same Infrastructure Law gave $2.5 billion to Nevada for highway repairs, $402 million for water infrastructure, and $293 million for airport improvements. We see the results here in Churchill County with so many streets being repaired and other improvements in our county. He responded that the street repair work made it harder for him to get to school!

I then outlined some of the veterans’ benefits Rosen has worked on. The first bill she proposed after her induction into the Senate was the Hire Student Veterans Act. This expands opportunities for student veterans using their GI Bill benefits to work more hours or take paid internships. This will help these veterans gain work experience as well as help pay their expenses.

Rosen proposed this bill in response to what veterans told her they needed. The bill hasn’t passed yet, but Rosen has re-introduced it during every Congress and hopes it will pass this time. She has been praised by Joy Ilem, National Legislative Director of Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and by Kristina Keenan, Deputy Legislative Director of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for her work on this bill.

“The senator was also awarded the Eagle Award from the Enlisted Association of the National Guard recently in recognition of her work in trying to expand affordable health coverage for Guardsmen and Reservists who serve as federal employees via the TRICARE Reserve Improvement Act that she co-sponsored this and last year.” (Reserve National Guard Magazine, March 8, 2019)

Rosen has worked on several more military bills since last summer. On Dec. 14, she helped pass the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act, which provides a 5.2 percent pay raise to American service members. It also provides $13.7 million to Nellis Air Force Base to build new facilities, and $8.8 million to build and upgrade Nevada Army National Guard facilities in North Las Vegas and Stead.

She also sponsored the Veterans Deserve Better Act, which amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to improve the scheduling of health care appointments, the accountability of third party administrators, and payment to providers under such Act.

Rosen has worked on many more bills to make life better for us all. Because of her ability to work with Republicans, “the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University ranked Rosen among the Senate’s most bipartisan members. She ranked 9th among 98 senators.” (Reno Gazette Journal, April 6, 2023)

When I finished explaining some of this to the young man, he went away a bit more thoughtful than when he entered the booth. I hope he continued to think about what I’d said.

For those who want the best for Nevada, we have a senator who works hard and has done so much for us. Why would we choose anyone else?

Jeanette Strong, whose column appears every other week, is a Nevada Press Foundation award-winning columnist. She may be reached at news@lahontanvalleynews.com.