On The Record With Congressman Mark Amodei

The Globe had the opportunity to ask Congressman Mark Amodei a few questions during an event in Reno held by the Libre Institute in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month. Our topics: Hurricane Helene, Iran and Israel, and his campaign for reelection in Nevada’s Congressional District 2.

Hurricane Helene caused over 600 miles of devastation, wiping out numerous small mountain towns in Western North Carolina. It has been nearly a week and hundreds are confirmed dead, thousands are missing, and thousands are without electricity, food, water and cell service. Yet, Secretary Mayorkas just announced that FEMA doesn’t have enough money to take care of the region. It was also uncovered that FEMA has used an estimated one billion dollars trafficking and supporting migrants. As you sit on the appropriations committee, how do you respond to Mayorkas and the spending by FEMA to aid migrants rather than Americans impacted by Helene?

I can comment on the amount that’s gone towards the hurricane effort because I have their budget. I can’t comment on the specific policy that Secretary Mayorkas has done because the policy is generated by the Homeland Security Committee. But, I can tell you this. When Secretary Mayorkas says there’s no money for hurricane relief, I mean, we don’t have a lot of time to waste here. I’d say that whoever briefed him to say that did a very poor job, because we did their budget for that. As of three days ago, we have over $20 billion to do life safety, stability, etc…in the whole five-state region.

FEMA has 30 days to provide an estimate of needed resources. Because in order to know what they need, you need some target. So, if the administration wants to help speed anything up, tell them they only got 20 days to do it. I mean, we’re seven days or so down the road from there. Tell them they have to do the estimate quickly.

Tell me what the target is so we can compare it with the money that’s already available for them. The 20 billion, it’s there. You don’t need congress to reauthorize anything else. So, I can tell you that I’m a little disappointed in all the garbage out there that’s floating around.

The facts are these. There’s $20 billion available to get them get them through the next five weeks. They’ve got another three weeks, unless the President tells them to speed it up, to tell us what their initial estimate is. That’s the target to start. Can they spend $20 billion? I mean, nobody’s going to rebuild a home in 20 days when the floodwater is still there.

Rightfully so, those funds ought to be on stabilizing people’s necessities of life and safety, etc. There’s $20 billion there. If it turns out they need more, and they’re out of that in 30 days, then we’re perfectly capable of dealing with that. But, to sit there five days after the event, or seven days after the event, and say, “this is how this story ends” should be criticized. You don’t know how a story is going to end until you know, at least, what the first estimates are of what the story is. Fair enough?

The escalation of war in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. President Trump warns we are on the precipice of World War 3. Do you believe that to be so, and if so, how do we claw our way back from the precipice?

Well, let’s start at the beginning. Like it or not, from the days of the Shah of Iran, we have always played a leadership role in the Middle East. Some days, we were very good at that. Some days, we botched it, but we were always a presence in terms of trying to make sure that things stayed somewhere between the curves. I don’t think that’s been going on with this administration. There’s stuff that defies logic. For example, we’re releasing money to people who are not our friends. I’m not sure what messages we’re sending, and I’m not trying to be critical, I’m just saying the Middle East that we deal with right now has very little structure.

I don’t care what your politics are. The Middle East has very little structure. We very well could be on the precipice, as you say. I don’t know if we are, but we’re certainly not chugging along smoothly. So, when it comes to how do you claw your way back, first of all, it’s gonna be a steeper hill than it ever has been before, because when you vacate an area, then reinsert yourself and try to establish some sort of order, it’s going to be harder than it was. It’s going to be a varsity level assignment to try to bring some sense of cooling down of the region, because it sure seems like it’s red hot right now.

Do you think that a new administration can help cool down that region?

Well, let me put it to you this way. I know what these folks in the Biden Administration have done, and it’s not I’m not picking on them because they’re democrats, but it doesn’t look like what they have done has been very effective. I don’t want to keep doing the same thing, because I don’t think we’re headed the right way. I’m okay with giving somebody else a chance.

You have an independent challenger endorsed by Jacky Rosen and has self-funded a significant portion of his first political campaign. What is your message to Nevadans who are undecided or considering electing a political newcomer in your district?

Well, first of all, the voters are never wrong. We will see what they say on November 5th. If you define viability, as “I have between $80 and a $190 million to spend of my own money,” which is what his financial disclosure statement says and that he finally filed just 10 days ago, if viability is just how much money you got, hell, I was never viable from the beginning. I was always a candidate who had to go out and raise dollar one and get support from the people. We have built that support up over the last 12-plus years. And, listen, I could be wrong. But, we are not leaving any stone unturned. We’re running through the finish line.

But, if Nevadans are ready for this district to have somebody whose interest in public service is about seven months long, who’s going to spend $4 to $5 million to convince those people that he’s a real Nevadan, who moved three minutes from the California state line during COVID, and who has a 55 page financial disclosure that says he’s worth up to a $190,000,000…If those things all sound like rock solid Nevada representation to the voters of Nevada, then God bless them. We sure hope it doesn’t. But you know what? Whatever they decide to do, we’ll do. I just feel blessed that I have been given the opportunity to, first of all, live in Nevada, and second of all, represent Nevada.

When you talk about solving Nevada problems, I don’t think hiring a team of consultants from the Bay Area to create messaging for Nevadans is very Nevadan. You haven’t even hired somebody from Nevada who can listen to and who knows Nevadans. The bad news is, a lot of people think that if you got a lot of money, you’re viable. We’re hoping that the voters are going to think, “if I don’t like your qualifications, then I’m going to vote for somebody whose qualifications I like.” Obviously, we like our qualifications.