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Reno Gazette Journal: Nevada's congressional delegates welcome Trump's temporary deal to end shutdown

Reno Gazette Journal: Nevada's congressional delegates welcome Trump's temporary deal to end shutdown

“It took far too long for this senseless Trump tantrum to come to an end,” U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said in a statement.

Nevada’s congressional delegation offered a mostly warm welcome to news of a deal that will end a record-breaking partial federal government shutdown.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced the agreement that will reopen the government for three weeks, backing down from his demand that Congress fund his long-promised border wall before putting federal agencies back to work.  Trump has vowed to continue trying to persuade Democratic leaders to fund the wall until the deal expires on Feb. 15.

Friday's agreement ended a 35-day standoff that left some 800,000 federal workers either on furlough or working without pay. An estimated 3,500 such employees live in Nevada.

The nation’s longest-ever shutdown wrapped up on terms dictated by Democratic leaders, who had repeatedly denied funds for the Southwest border barrier and insisted the government must reopen before Congress began talking about border security.

But none of Nevada’s Democratic delegates sounded interested in taking a victory lap.

“It took far too long for this senseless Trump tantrum to come to an end,” U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said in a statement. “Over a month ago, Donald Trump said he would be ‘proud’ to shut down the government.

“Now that the President has finally agreed to sign the bills we’ve passed to re-open the government, I will work with my colleagues to pursue immigration reform that reflects our values and protects our Dreamers. The symbol of America must always be the Statue of Liberty, not an ineffective border wall.”

Newly elected U.S. Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., sounded similarly exasperated.

“Now that the President and Senate have finally stopped using these people as bargaining chips, I am hopeful that we can work to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes improvements to our border security,” Lee wrote in a statement from her office.

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said he planned to continue working with his colleagues to make sure Nevada's unpaid federal workers get "every penny they are owed" in back pay. 

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said she too was looking forward to working “in a bipartisan way to ensure we have effective security at our nation’s borders.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei — Northern Nevada’s lone congressman and the only Republican in the delegation — sounded more skeptical about reaching a long-lasting consensus during the three-week shutdown thaw.

“I’m pleased to hear we have reached a deal to immediately reopen the federal government as Congress works to prioritize funding for border security,” Amodei said in a statement. “I look forward to shocking the nation with a constructive outcome in three weeks. Stay tuned.”

U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., missed Friday’s vote to approve the shutdown agreement. She is still recovering from a wrist injury sustained during a Martin Luther King Day parade in Las Vegas.