Sen. Rosen Issues Statement on Legislative Accomplishments During 1st Year in Senate

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 -- Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, issued the following statement:

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) released the following statement highlighting her many legislative actions during her first year in the Senate, including introducing 15 pieces of bipartisan legislation, co-leading a resolution to defend the Affordable Care Act (ACA), serving on five Senate committees and eight subcommittees, launching both a Senate Task Force and a Senate Caucus, and co-sponsoring over 300 pieces of legislation. Of the 300 bills and resolutions co-sponsored or introduced by the Senator, over two-thirds are bipartisan and nearly 60 have passed the Senate, and 6 have been signed into or will be signed into law before the end of the year.

"I'm proud to have made so much progress during my first year in the Senate, working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to serve Nevada's hardworking families," said Senator Rosen. "My office has made it a priority to address issues that matter to Nevadans, such as protecting access to health care, looking out for our veterans, and investing in and preparing our future workforce. I will continue working tirelessly to improve the lives of Nevadans through bipartisan legislation that benefit our great state and its people."

BACKGROUND: This year, Senator Rosen was named as one of the most bipartisan freshmen members of the United States Senate in the 116th Congress. Every bill she has introduced has been bipartisan, two-thirds of the legislation she has co-led or co-sponsored has been bipartisan, and about a third of the legislation Senator Rosen has co-sponsored was introduced by a Republican.

Of the 15 bipartisan bills introduced by Senator Rosen, highlights include:

- Introducing the bipartisan Building Blocks of STEM Act, legislation that will create and expand upon STEM education initiatives at NSF for young children, including new research grants to increase the participation of girls in computer science. The Building Blocks of STEM Act has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate and is expected to be signed into law by the President soon.

- Introducing the Affordable Housing for Veterans Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure that veterans are proactively made aware of their VA home loan options, including providing them with side-by-side information about whether such information is more affordable than a convention loan.

- Introducing the GI Bill Planning Act, bipartisan legislation that would provide military enlistees additional time to pick their preferred GI Bill education benefits, rather than having to do so at Basic Training.

- Introducing the Cyber Ready Workforce Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would authorize apprenticeship programs to help train our cyber workforce.

- Introducing the JROTC Cyber Training Act, a bipartisan bill to direct The Department of Defense to establish a program to train JROTC students in computer science and cybersecurity.

- Introducing the Veterans Jobs Opportunity Act, a bipartisan bill that would create a small business startup tax credit for veterans who open up a business in underserved communities.

- Introducing the Hire Student Veterans Act, a bipartisan bill to provide tax credits to incentivize employers to hire student veterans so that they have access to good-paying jobs. This was the first bill Senator Rosen introduced in the U.S. Senate.

- Introducing the Jobs Not Waste Act with the entire Nevada delegation. This bipartisan, bicameral bill would prohibit the Secretary of Energy from taking action relating to the licensing, planning, development, or construction of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain until the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submits a study to Congress on the economic benefits of alternative uses of the site, and Congress holds a hearing on the benefits of alternative uses.

- Introducing the Broadband Parity Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure that all communities receiving federal broadband support, including our rural communities, have access to internet service that is actually at broadband speeds.

- Introducing the Provider Training in Palliative Care Act, bipartisan legislation to update the National Health Service Corps program to include palliative care medicine as an eligible primary care service.

Other legislative highlights include:

- Co-leading a resolution that would authorize Senate Legal Counsel to intervene in Texas vs. United States - a pending lawsuit in federal court, on behalf of the U.S. Senate, in order to defend the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's coverage protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

- Passing an appropriations amendment to provide over $4 million to combat invasive species in Lake Tahoe. This amendment was later included in the FY2020 spending package, which passed the House and Senate and is expected to be signed into law.

- Helping to introduce the State Public Option Act, legislation to improve the Affordable Care Act by allowing states that choose to expand Medicaid the option of allowing their resident to buy into the program and access high-quality, affordable care, regardless of income level.

- Launching the bipartisan Comprehensive Care Caucus in the Senate to raise the public's awareness and promote the availability and benefits of palliative care, while also finding bipartisan solutions to expand access to palliative care services, improve coordinated care, and address issues impacting caregivers.

- Launching the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism. To date, over one-third of the Senate has joined this Task Force, with an even number of Republicans and Democrats.