Amodei votes against fiscal cliff legislation

Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei was the lone member of Nevada’s congressional delegation to vote against the fiscal cliff legislation that won final approval late Tuesday in the House.Amodei said he couldn’t support the plan although he appreciated the effort by Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to broker a compromise.“I respectfully decline to support a measure that raises $41 in revenue for every dollar of spending cuts,” said Amodei. “This is not a balanced approach.”Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, both Democrats, and Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Joe Heck, Republicans, all voted for the plan.“I will not tell the Nevadans I represent that this bill is anything resembling a solution to the fiscal and economic sickness that threatens all of us,” Amodei said, adding that the crisis will return in just seven weeks when the debt ceiling debate begins.He said maintaining the status quo on the federal budget and debt isn’t acceptable when Nevadans continue to struggle with the recession, the implementation of the healthcare act and other issues.“Adding to the uncertainty misery index for employers and the middle class is the appearance there is no end in sight to the anti-business regulatory onslaught of health, labor, environmental and land-use regulations pouring out of this administration,” Amodei said in a statement.He said the bill approved by Congress ignores “the opportunity to start to address the unsustainable spending and crushing debt that continue to drag down the private sector and the people employed therein.”Tuesday night’s 257-167 House vote saw Speaker John Boehner and about a third of his Republican majority lining up with the Democratic minority. The vote was 89-8 in the Democratic-led Senate.