Senate Dems rattled by House Dems' assault on mining in budget bill

A couple of Democrats in the Senate have spoken out about the provision in the behemoth budget bill that would make mining operations on federal lands costlier by imposing new taxes and royalty fees on said mining operations.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., expressed her opposition to the "reform proposal" as the legislation "would have an unfair, outsized impact on the state of Nevada," whose land is mostly "owned by the federal government" and also "imposes taxes on federal land."

"But more importantly, moving this type of reform through a short-term budget process would create uncertainty for the industry and uncertainty that supports thousands of jobs across the country," Cortez Masto said during a committee hearing on Tuesday morning.