The 2015 spending bill contains plenty of goodies for Harry Reid’s state of Nevada.
The Senate majority leader boasted about the earmarks in a press release before leaving town. “As the 113th Congress comes to a close, Senator Reid ended a successful lame duck session by delivering on a number of priorities to grow Nevada’s economy as we continue our recovery,” the release reads.
Reid secured at least $3.84 billion for things such as the protection of public lands, military and EPA building renovations, and wildfire prevention.
The bill gives the state $7.85 million to design a new EPA facility and more than $110 million for new and renovated military facilities. The National Center for Nuclear Security, which is located in Nevada, gets $67 million, and the geothermal energy industry gets $55 million. Another $50 million goes to address drought conditions and a whopping $3.53 billion goes to the state to fight and prevent wildfires and to restore damage.
The bill also reauthorizes the government to make payments to Nevada counties that lose out on property tax revenue from federally owned land. Last year, the government paid Nevada counties $25 million.
And the bill reauthorizes the Travel Promotion Act, which promotes tourism in the United States and helped attract an additional 1.1 million visitors last year.
Finally, the bill prevents a Nevada mountain from being used as a nuclear waste facility, by denying the project funding.
Reid is known for his ability to secure earmarks for Nevada, and has relied on that ability to bolster tough reelection campaigns.
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