Senator tours convention center expansion, new people-mover

“As I’m home now and since we’ve passed these COVID relief packages, I want to make sure that money gets into these communities to beat this pandemic — to really focus on helping to open up our schools again and support the rebuilding and rebounding of our economy,” she said in an interview after her tour.

Cortez Masto said both the people-mover and latest convention center expansions show such a rebuild in action.

The senator said she is focused on ensuring the vaccination process is moving efficiently in Nevada, and the state is moving toward cutting its unemployment rate. She will hold an event at the College of Southern Nevada on Wednesday to discuss workplace development and training programs for Nevadans who may need retraining to switch out of sectors damaged by the pandemic before heading north to Reno at the end of the week.

The Senate passed the most recent stimulus package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, in March without a single Republican voting in support. It was the first of several rebuilding plans introduced by President Joe Biden, with Congress expected to attempt two more sweeping packages on infrastructure/jobs and family life in the near future.

While Cortez Masto is still looking at both packages, she stressed the importance of continuing the child tax credits and child care assistance passed in the Rescue Plan beyond the length of the pandemic recovery — a pillar of Biden’s recently revealed American Families Plan proposal.

“We have seen our families struggling here in Nevada, and our children, and we’ve got to do everything we can to not only support them but their families,” Cortez Masto said. “Get them back to work, good-paying jobs and an opportunity to succeed.”

Contact Rory Appleton at rappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0276. Follow @RoryDoesPhonics on Twitter.