congress Dina Titus Contact information

About Dina Titus

Serving the First Congressional District of Nevada for more than a decade, Rep. Dina Titus is the dean of Nevada’s delegation. Previously she served as State Senate Minority Leader from 1993 to 2009.

Dina has been a persistent champion for average Nevadans and has been rated one of the most effective Democratic members of the House of Representatives by the Center for Effective Lawmaking.

Dina is addressing the affordable housing crisis in Southern Nevada with legislation to provide more rental housing vouchers for lower-income families. She also is pushing legislation to help homebuyers by forcing outside institutional investors to divest themselves of the thousands of homes they have bought in Southern Nevada. Dina wants those homes to be owned by people, not corporations. She has brought jobs to Southern Nevada as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She has introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage and she has fought to protect a woman’s right to choose.

Dina serves as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee where she brings common-sense expertise to international problems. Within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Dina serves as ranking member of a subcommittee that helps Nevada’s communities adapt to climate change and better respond to natural disasters.

After helping the Las Vegas community recover from the deadliest shooting in modern American history, Dina has emerged as one of the leading voices in Congress for substantive action to reduce gun violence. She introduced legislation to ban bump stocks that convert rifles into machine guns.

Dina supported capping the price of insulin at $35. She has fought every Republican effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which provides health insurance to tens of thousands of Nevadans.

Dina is a strong advocate for the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform that provides a legal pathway to citizenship.

Dina has worked to preserve Nevada’s special environment through creation of two national monuments. She also has fought to protect Nevada’s environment and its people through her three-decades-long opposition to the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. She is also a founding member of the Colorado River Caucus and a strong advocate for renewable energy.

Dina understands the importance of education because she has been an educator herself. She taught American and Nevada political science classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 1979 until 2011. A noted non-fiction writer, she is internationally known for her expertise in the history and policies related to nuclear power, weaponry and waste.

Dina is a proud Greek American and serves as Vice Chair of the Hellenic Caucus in Congress, representing her heritage and fostering cooperation between the United States and Greece. She has called for the reunification of Cyprus and protections for the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Dina grew up in the small town of Tifton, Georgia, with her parents, Joe and Betty Titus, and her younger sister, Dr. Rho Hudson, who is a professor of special education and a founding faculty member of Nevada State College.

Dina is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, holds a master’s degree from the University of Georgia, and earned her doctorate at Florida State University.

Dina has been married to Professor Thomas C. Wright for over 40 years. Tom, a Latin American historian, received the prestigious UNLV Distinguished Professor award in 2008 and is the author of a number of award-winning books, most notably on political exile and human rights. John Wright Hall on campus is named after his father, pioneer professor at UNLV.

TOP ISSUES

Creating Jobs, Boosting Wages, and Investing in Infrastructure

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email I believe that economic inequality is a defining challenge of our time, and I am proud to champion the rights of workers to unionize and to engage in collective bargaining for better wages and working conditions. As a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am focused on making sound, long-term investments in our nation’s highways, roadways, and airports that would create good-paying jobs for hardworking individuals in Southern Nevada and across the country. I will continue to ensure that Las Vegas has a seat at the table in any federal discussion about transportation and infrastructure.

Additionally, I am committed to ensuring that all Nevadans earn a living wage. To that end, I have co-sponsored the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. No one should work full time and still live in poverty. Of course, we must also insist on equal pay for equal work, which is why I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Humane Treatment of Animals

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email I believe animals should be treated with care, not cruelty. As a result, I am proud to consistently fight for animal welfare in Congress. I have helped lead the effort to end government agencies from wasting taxpayer dollars on inhumane animal experiments. I’ve also introduced legislation to make sure animals are taken care of in times of emergencies and natural disasters. Finally, I will continue to defend wild horses and burros which are too often threatened despite their importance to so many of us in the West.

Foreign Affairs

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email Las Vegas is an international city that thrives on tourism from all around the world. I am committed to using my position on the Foreign Affairs Committee to build strong relationships between Southern Nevada and foreign nations, which helps create jobs in our community.

I strongly believe that diplomacy must be the foundation of U.S. foreign policy. The United States has a stronger position on the world stage when we stand with our allies to confront global challenges. On urgent issues ranging from counterterrorism to nuclear proliferation, and climate change to human rights advocacy, the United States must mobilize our international partners to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Preventing Gun Violence

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email It is long past time for Congress to take substantive action to prevent gun violence. After the nation’s worst mass shooting in modern American history occurred at an October 2017 music festival in Las Vegas, I introduced legislation banning bump stocks, which allowed the gunman to convert his assault rifle into a machine gun that ended 58 lives. This is a key first step toward ending the senseless gun violence that plagues our nation.

Additionally, I have co-sponsored bills to ban assault weapons and require comprehensive background checks for all gun purchases. Parents shouldn’t have to fear that their children won’t come home from school or a concert. We pass gun violence prevention legislation to keep our communities safe.

Immigration Reform

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email I strongly believe that the symbol of the United States must always remain the Statue of Liberty, not an ineffective border wall. The diversity of Las Vegas is part of what makes our community unique. I am committed to reforming our broken immigration system and I believe strongly that law-abiding immigrants should have a pathway to citizenship.

DREAMers and TPS holders are teachers, nurses, and entrepreneurs. More importantly, they are our neighbors, friends, and colleagues. They are asking for nothing more than a shot at the American Dream. I will continue to support legislation that would keep families together, allow undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows, protect DREAMers, and preserve the temporary protected status of immigrants fleeing violence and persecution in their native countries.

Protecting the Environment and Stopping Yucca Mountain

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this Page Share by Email Due to decades of inaction and the denial of science, we are running out of time to address the climate crisis. Continuing on that path would have unacceptable and irreversible consequences on the planet and our people. I support a transition to a clean energy economy that could create millions of good-paying jobs while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, I am leading the fight in Congress to prevent Nevada from becoming the dumping ground for the nation’s nuclear waste. As part of my efforts to block any effort to revitalize Yucca Mountain, I have introduced the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act which would prohibit the U.S. Department of Energy from establishing a nuclear waste dump without the consent of locally impacted communities, governments, and tribes. The attempts to move forward with the unsafe, unsound storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain are based on dirty politics, not sound science. Nevada doesn’t use nuclear power, we don’t produce nuclear waste, and we shouldn’t be forced to store it.