Citing debt concerns, Hardy and Heck vote against budget deal

By Kyle Roerink

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015 | 5:15 p.m.

Joining 165 other House Republicans, Southern Nevada Reps. Joe Heck and Cresent Hardy opposed a bipartisan, $80 billion budget deal that funds discretionary spending programs and lifts caps that limit the nation’s borrowing ability.

The Nevada lawmakers, both facing high-profile election challenges in 2016, touted their votes as a stand against the $18 trillion national debt. The bill was pushed by House Democrats and passed by a 266-167 vote, sending it to the Senate chambers for a vote that some Republicans are vowing to hold up. Rep. Dina Titus, a Las Vegas Democrat, voted in favor of the measure.

Republicans like Heck and Hardy wanted more cuts to mandatory programs like Medicare and Social Security and disagreed with the move to give the government borrowing authority until March 2017 — nearly four months after the presidential election. If the bill becomes law this week, it will avoid a potential government shutdown when the nation’s borrowing limit maxes out on Nov. 3.

Hardy, the 4th Congressional District incumbent facing a strong challenge from Democrats, said the federal debt equals "10 years of our current combined spending in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, or 30 years of our current spending on defense.”

"If we want to save our most important programs, simply borrowing more money will only delay and increase the problem for those who come after us,” he said.

Heck, who is leaving the House to run for Harry Reid’s Senate seat, said the debt was the “most significant threat to our national security.”

"Yet this budget bill suspends the debt limit, giving the president a blank check until 2017, without making the significant reforms necessary to reduce spending and address the major drivers of our nearly $18.5 trillion debt,” Heck said.

Shortly after the vote, the congressman's 2016 election opponents to the congressmen voiced their opinions.

Democrat Ruben Kihuen, a state senator running for Hardy’s seat, said the congressman’s no-vote was “reckless.”

“He has no interest in seeking common-sense, bipartisan solutions,” he said.

Zach Hudson, spokesman for the Nevada Democratic Party, called Heck’s decision was a vote in favor of “dysfunction and gridlock.”