News - June 4, 2025 - by Ray Hagar

- Click for Full Interview

After receiving criticism from Democrats in Nevada's congressional delegation over a now-failed controversial Clark County land-sale proposal in the U.S. House, District 2 Rep. Mark Amodei, shot back this week on Nevada Newsmakers.

Amodei, the only Republican among Nevada's federal elected officials, said his Democratic colleagues are sometimes short sighted in their approach, lack an historical understanding of federal land deals and should remember they are in the minority party on Capitol Hill, making it more difficult to get things done.

Amodei, from Carson City, also told host Sam Shad that he made the proposal to sell 65,000 acres in Clark County only after conversations with U.S. House leadership and two members of the Clark County Commission -- Democrats Jim Gibson and Marilyn Kirkpatrick.

"They (Nevada's congressional Democrats) said, 'You should stay the heck out of Clark County, Mark.' And I'm happy to," Amodei said.

"But when the Clark County Commission calls me up in Congress and says we need some help in the House ... I'm not a legislative genius, but it is helpful if you have somebody from your state who is in the majority, who is involved in natural resources, who is on the committee on appropriations to say, "Yeah, I'll help do the right thing for Clark County."

House leadership told Amodei that the Congressional Budget Office estimated the sale of the land in Clark County -- and smaller parcels in Washoe and Lyon counties -- could fetch $8 billion for the U.S. Treasury.

 "They (House leadership) came to me and said, 'Hey, would you do this?' And I go, 'Well, sure.' if that gets us one step down the road, but it's not the final step, not the be-all-end-all," Amodei said.

  Democrats lack experience

  Amodei -- the dean of Nevada's congressional delegation, first elected in  2011 -- also suggested in the Tuesday interview that Democrats lacked experience in navigating land bills in Congress.

  "Land bills in Nevada used to have some really deep roots," Amodei said. "Harry Reid, John Ensign, Barbara Vucanovich. If you look at the history, just since the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, that's 23, 24 years-old now. And so you look at that, and this is no offense, but Sen. Cortez Masto, not a lot of history in that. I mean, she's been there for a while. So there is some.

  "Sen. Rosen, even less," Amodei continued. "It doesn't make her a bad person but it's just the nuances and how we got to where we were 20 years ago, 10 years ago. And so that doesn't make them bad people, but they don't know.

  "Congresswoman (Susie) Lee, is the newest member of the delegation, as far as history," Amodei continued. "Steven Horsford, understandably, concentrates mostly on urban issues, as he should."

 Amodei seemed bruised by the criticism from Rep. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas. Like Amodei, Titus has a long history in Nevada politics, serving as the Democratic Minority Leader of the state Senate more than 20 years ago when Amodei was also a state senator. Amodei said he considers Titus a friend to this day.

  "You know, the one with the deepest roots in lands is Dina (Titus)," he said. "So when when you see what Dina said, I mean, some of it is like, hey, we're having some fun with talking points here."

  Talking-point extravaganza

  Amodei described the criticism hurled at him as a "talking-point extravaganza." It included demands for Amodei to stay in his own district, outrage that profits from the land sales would not remain in Nevada and more outrage that no land was set aside for wildlife or conservation.

  Titus introduced legislation to strip Amodei's proposal out of the overall reconciliation bill, calling it, "a massive land grab in Southern Nevada to pay for tax breaks for the rich."

Soon after, the proposal was stripped from the legislation by GOP leadership at the request of Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican from Montana.

 The criticism from his colleagues seemed to hit hard. Amodei said the delegation must work together, especially when Republicans  control of both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch.

  "So that's nice that everybody had a fun time kicking me around," he said. "And as I've told you, it's like, hey, I'm at the point where I don't have any feelings left, so that's fine. Have whatever fun you think you need to. But we still have issues that need to be addressed.

  "And I'll be honest with you, the one thing I'm most worried about are we getting to the point where we've got no growth in in Clark County," Amodei said, later adding:

  "And so she (Titus) sits there and goes, 'Stay the heck away'?

  "It's like, OK, tell me your plan on how you're going to get this done, whether it's in Washoe, Clark or Elko and we'll be there to help you," Amodei said. "But don't require me to ignore the fact that you're in the minority in both houses with a (presidential) administration that is what it is.

  "And you want to get something done but say, 'hell no, we won't go for that (Amodei proposal).' It's like, okay, so where does that leave you?

  Money to U.S. Treasury

  The criticism about the sales of the land going to the U.S. Treasury was an issue Amodei was eager to address.

  House leadership wanted the land in Nevada sold to increase money in the U.S. Treasury, Amodei said. The Treasury needed the money because of the anticipated drop in tax collections from the richest Americans with the expected passage of President Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill."

  It would be nearly impossible for the money to remain in Nevada under current circumstances, Amodei said.

  "If you have a lobbying plan to get people from the other 49 states to let us keep that ... let me know what it is. We're there," Amodei said, referring to his Democratic congressional colleagues.

  Amodei repeated his assertion that Nevada no longer wields the congressional power to keep that money -- not since former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid left office in 2017.

  "It's a little different when you don't have the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, who can impose his will on something like that," he said.

  "And no disrespect to anybody, but tell me what your lobbying plan is for that? You know, you get the Democrats on board for it. I'll go get the Republicans. But you don't hear a peep about that.

 "Times have changed since Harry was the Majority Leader in the United States Senate," Amodei continued. "That's a compliment to Harry. So if this deal goes through, it (money from sales) is going to go to the U.S. Treasury."

  The abrupt scuttling of the proposal by Zinke after the initial backlash probably ruined chances of making a deal to keep the money from the land sales in Nevada, Amodei said.

  "Now, we were working (on a plan to keep the money). OK, it can go to the U.S. Treasury, but can it go to the existing SNPLMA money?" he said, referring to the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act). Can it go to BLM accounts to be spent in Nevada? Can we get a piece of the action?

  "We never even had a chance to chase those conversations down," Amodei said.

  Election ramifications for Democrats?

  Amodei also suggested another reason why Nevada Democrats opposed his land-sales proposal:

  They want to keep it out of Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill."

  If the Clark County land sales made its way into the "OBBB" and the Clark Democrats vote against it, it could be used against them in their next re-election bid. If they vote for the OBBB because of the Clark County land sales, that may also hurt them politically, Amodei suggested.

  "The biggest insight I got was from a member of the Clark County Commission who said ... 'You know, they're voting against the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill.' But if there's land for Clark County in there and they vote for that too, that puts him in a much less tenable, you know, north, south, east, west, whatever position you want to call it."

  Amodei also suspects the opposition to his land-transfer proposal is steeped in fear of urban sprawl and the philosophy to build vertically and not horizontally.

  "It was certainly a significant part of it," he said. "But that works great for May of 2025. But if you're looking at what you want the world to be like ... in Clark County, for instance, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, whether it's vertical or horizontal, whatever the heck, you have to have a vision."

  The land sales are needed to help combat the housing crisis in Nevada, Amodei said, aligning himself with Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.

  "Every single community in the state, from Gerlach to Henderson, is completely surrounded by federal lands,' Amodei said. "No sense lamenting it. It's our reality.

  "So if you want to do something in Gerlach, Winnemucca, Ely, Henderson, Boulder City, North Las Vegas, you have to have a federal lands bill," Amodei said.

  "Obviously there's a housing affordability crisis," Amodei continued. "And I'm not talking about affordability for starter homes or affordability for apartments. It's affordability for everything. And that's not going to be an easy solution."

Issues with Zinke

Amodei had choice words for Zinke for killing the land transfer. Zinke, Trump's initial Secretary of the Interior during his first term, was highly critical of selling federal lands during discussions of the "OBBB.".

He called the large-scale sell of federal his his "red line," according to reports. Zinke, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, also called the issue his "San Juan Hill," according to the Nevada Independent, a reference to the historic U.S. victory in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

"I have no idea what was going on with my colleague Ryan Zinke," Amodei said. "He just said, 'Hey, that's a red line.' "

Amodei continued:

"If you go back and look, it wasn't a red line when you supported the Pershing County consolidation thing when you were the Secretary of Interior, " Amodei said. "And by the way, where was the red line when we were expanding NAS Fallon? ... so anyhow... that's all stuff to be worked out later."

He called Zinke"s stance "ironic."

"It's ironic that on this thing, you get a guy from two states away in Montana who goes, I'm not going to vote for it," Amodei said. "And I'm going to scuttle the whole bill, by the way, which we had no votes to spare. Two states away. I'm imposing whatever my value is on that."

Amodei also threw shade at Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, of Nevada's 3rd U.S. House District:

"I think it was Susie who was calling Ryan Zinke their hero or something like that," Amodei said. "Wow. That's a marriage that you'd never see in heaven or hell or any place in between."

"But I get it," he said. "A lot of it is them saying, 'By God, we're here. We're on duty for what happens with land stuff in Clark County.'

"And it's like, well, that's fine with me. I guess you can you can let the county
commission and the city councils take a break, since you're going to be drawing those lines now and they're not going to," Amodei said.

- Click for Full Interview