LETTERS: Amodei says bills position GOP to fight amnesty

To the editor:

In a Saturday letter to the editor, Lana Noland said I betrayed my constituents and destroyed the Constitution. When resorting to such language, it helps to have your facts straight. Not only is Ms. Noland wrong on the facts, she lacks a basic understanding of our Constitution and how bills become laws.

Ms. Noland said Republicans in the House hold the purse strings. For the 113th Congress, that was not true. We were one half — of a bicameral legislative branch — of one third of the federal government. Until next month, the Senate majority leader is Harry Reid, a Democrat. You may have heard of him.

If House Republicans could unilaterally make law, we would have successfully repealed the Affordable Care Act, balanced the budget, reined in the Interior Department and enacted many more important reforms. However, our constitutional system requires bills to be passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, who may also veto said bills.

I adamantly oppose the president’s unconstitutional actions on executive amnesty. That is why I voted for H.R. 5759, the Executive Amnesty Prevention Act, and the so-called CRomnibus, H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015.

H.R. 5759 would retroactively nullify the president’s executive action, but was symbolic because the Democrat-controlled Senate would not pass it and the president would not sign it.

H.R. 83 singles out the Department of Homeland Security under a continuing resolution until Feb. 27. The timing is important because the CR prevents enacting new policies within DHS during that time. The executive amnesty is not expected to begin until mid-May 2015, at which time Republicans will control the Senate and have a larger majority in the House.

Not only does H.R. 83 move us to more advantageous ground to fight executive amnesty and dismantle the worst parts of the ACA, it includes many provisions important to Nevadans, such as funding of PILT, a one-year delay of the Sage Hen Endangered Species Act listing and funding to eliminate the VA disability claims backlog.

But don’t take my word for it. If the CRomnibus did all Lana Noland claims, why did Rep. Nancy Pelosi and 139 Democrats vote against it? Do you think Rep. Pelosi would oppose funding executive amnesty? Do you think she would vote against billions of dollars for undocumented immigrants? Or attempt to defund the ACA? Of course not.

Happy New Year, Nevada.

MARK AMODEI

CARSON CITY

The writer, a Republican, represents Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District.

Stain on faith

To the editor:

If I were Islamic, I would be ashamed of my faith in light of the school shooting in Pakistan. To have any horrific tragedy carried out by persons claiming to be Islamic, even if it were by an Islamic group on the edge of the faith, is reason for all Islam to cry out in anguish and protest. It is the same for my own Christian faith, where I cry out in anguish and protest at the racism that my faith still practices against blacks and homosexuals, sometimes in inexcusably violent ways.

Yet I find the silence from the Islamic community deafening. Where are the voices of local people of Islam? Why is there not a flood of letters to the editor telling of the horror of this event? Why does not the Islamic community rise up and say this desecration of their faith by extremists, and the murder of helpless, innocent children, is not Islam, is not what they believe, is not something that is blessed by their faith?

And why is the Review-Journal not seeking statements from Islamic leaders and people in that community? It is not enough just to carry a news report. How does such an act of terror affect those who are of the faith locally? Does the local Islamic community also feel it is a horrific tragedy? Give them an opportunity to say so.

LEE WEBER

LAS VEGAS

Pre-K importance

To the editor:

I found your Dec. 19 editorial, “Pre-K not the way,” very disturbing.

I am a retired early childhood consultant, and I have visited preschools throughout the country. In the past 10 years, I have seen the changes most states made following the publication of new brain research. This research shows the critical importance of brain development in the early years. Nevada has not been one of the 40 states to support early childhood education. As we all know, Nevada is also last in education.

Your newspaper and the public should be celebrating the millions of dollars Nevada will now receive so that more children will enter kindergarten with the language, literacy and critical thinking skills necessary for success. There have been numerous studies that not only show the benefits to children academically and socially, but also long-term cost effectiveness and benefits to society.

Although Head Start has been valuable to millions of at-risk children and families, early childhood education is not just about Head Start. Yes, Nevada needs full-day kindergarten and a reduction of class sizes, as you stated, but Nevada also needs quality pre-kindergarten available to all children in order to begin their upward climb toward success.

I urge you to learn more about how children learn and how states that have top rankings in education use this knowledge to provide an integrated system of excellence from pre-K to 12th grade.

GAIL STORCH

LAS VEGAS