Ocasio-cortez joins protest

WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep.elect Alexandria Ocasio-cortez of New York joined about 200 climate-change activists as they staged a protest Tuesday at the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Protesters called on Democratic leaders to put forward a “Green New Deal” that includes a swift transition to 100 percent renewable energy in line with findings of a recent report on climate change by United Nations.

Some protesters were arrested Tuesday after refusing to leave a hallway outside Pelosi’s office.

Ocasio-cortez, 29, who is set to become the youngest member of Congress in January, addressed the group briefly before arrests were made.

Pelosi has pledged to reinstate a special committee on climate change after Democrats take control of the House. The California Democrat said in a statement that she welcomes the activists.

health care — and by the president’s “total disregard for women.”

In Nevada, Susie Lee defeated Las Vegas attorney Danny Tarkanian to join Titus in the House and form a women majority in the state’s congressional delegation with Rosen and Cortez Masto.

Also elected was Steven Horsford, a Democrat, and a former congressman who succeeds Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-nev., who did not seek re-election.

Rep. Mark Amodei was easily re-elected as the state’s only congressional Republican.

Meanwhile, no opposition has emerged to Pelosi for the speakership. But pre-election polls showed the California Democrat more polarizing than President Donald Trump.

And many Democrats who won in centrist congressional districts, or those that leaned Republican, distanced themselves from her and left-leaning proposals on health care, like a single-payer health care system.

Pelosi has tamped down expectations of impeachment proceedings against Trump, although Democrats said they expect to fulfill oversight responsibilities of the House following two years of Republican control of the

chamber and GOP avoidance of confrontation with the administration.

Meanwhile, Pelosi has pledged to improve health care and tackle other issues that Democrats poll-tested before the election.

Rosen said her top focus in the Senate “will be fighting to protect Nevadans’ access to health care, including protections for pre-existing conditions.”

Trump has also pledged bipartisan cooperation on issues like infrastructure, where lawmakers in both parties are eager to spend federal funding to improve roads and transportation systems with improvement projects that provide jobs.

Nevada would be well positioned in a federal surge in infrastructure improvement projects, with Titus likely a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee chairwoman, and Amodei a member of the Appropriations Committee, which legislates all federal spending.

Cortez Masto also serves on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@ reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.