On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) commented on Nevada having the highest unemployment rate of any state by saying that they got the worst of the economic impact of the pandemic but “the jobs are coming. We’ve made these investments. But we have more to do.”
Host Andrea Mitchell asked, “So, Senator, I was going to ask you about the drag that the economic issues are, potentially, for you, which is ironic, because The Wall Street Journal’s big headline today is that the economy — we are the best economy in the world with the latest data. Yet, the unemployment in Nevada is the highest in the country. And in Las Vegas, in particular, it’s something like 5.9%, at least in September. So, it’s way higher than the national average. That’s a problem, right?”
Rosen answered, “Well, I can tell you that we were hit hardest during the pandemic when we had to close up our tourism industry. But we’ve brought billions of dollars — I’ve brought billions of dollars to Nevada over the last few years for economic development. We’re bringing a Brightline train here to connect California to Las Vegas, billions of dollars of economic impact, tens of thousands of union jobs. We have more solar jobs per capita than any other state in the nation. We’re building a new VA hospital up in northern Nevada. So, the jobs are coming. We’ve made these investments. But we have more to do.”
She continued, “We understand, here in particular, that Albertsons and Kroger, they want to merge. They are ripping us off at the grocery store, and if we let them merge, that’s going to reduce competition in Nevada and continue to allow them to price gouge us at the market. We also have corporate investors that have come in during some tough times in Nevada, bought up our inventory, and now, they are jacking up the prices on rent and on homes. I’ve introduced legislation to hold them accountable. So, we’ve got to continue to work on lowering prices. We’ve done that for seniors when it comes to pharmaceuticals, $35 insulin, bringing all that negotiation down billions of dollars, back into the pockets of seniors and Medicare. My opponent wants to take all that away. … But the economic issues are real. We have to continue to work on expanding jobs and lowering costs. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
