Nevada Sen. Rosen calls for broadband expansion for telehealth, education

The Democratic senator said 1.2 million Nevadans live with a pre-existing condition and that, “many rural residents have to drive hundreds of miles for care.”

She said that's unacceptable.

“No person should have to decide between paying their bills or paying for their life saving medication,” she said during a Monday night speech before the Nevada Legislature, adding that greatly expanding and improving telehealth services is key to providing some of that healthcare.

Rosen's planned speech was one of the shortest by a member of the congressional delegation in years — at 13-14 minutes, it was a tiny bit longer than one Rep. Mark Amodei gave a couple of sessions ago.

Hers was the first address to a joint session of the Nevada Senate and Assembly by the Congressional delegation this session.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., follows Tuesday, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto on Wednesday. Amodei is planning to appear in April. The remaining two members, Steven Horsford and Susie Lee, have not yet scheduled their address.

In her speech Monday, Rosen added that broadband in rural Nevada is also key to improving education in those areas, especially for STEM careers.

She said the federal government can help by investing in K-12 to create a platform for Career and Technical Education. She pointed to the labor shortages in Nevada not only in STEM fields but health care, the shortage of teachers and other skilled professions that the federal government can help with.

As for the President's continuing efforts to restart the Yucca Mountain repository licensing, Rosen said that, “is not going any place in the House of Representatives,” since the Republicans lost the majority.

She said they have reintroduced the consent-based legislation in recognition that there are some places that want to become the nuclear waste storage center.

Yucca Mountain, she said, should be repurposed, possibly for military storage.

As for Trump's “emergency declaration” to force funding for a border wall, Rosen said simply, “it's not an emergency, the president said so himself.”

She said all sides need to talk and develop comprehensive immigration reform and develop a plan so that people can come into this country.

“That's what we were built on,” she said.

In addition, she called for “common sense measures” to control and reduce gun violence.