VIDEO: On Senate Floor, Rosen Calls Out Senate Republicans for Blocking Bipartisan Fix to Repeal New Tax Burden on Gaming Losses

Senator Rosen Joined Senator Cortez Masto In Trying to Pass Their Bipartisan FULL HOUSE Act to Reverse the Provision of the Extreme “Big Beautiful Bill” That Harms Casino Visitors and Nevada’s Economy—Republicans Blocked It

Watch Senator Rosen’s Full Remarks HERE.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to condemn Senate Republicans for imposing a new tax burden on casino players who lose money gaming, and for blocking the passage of her bipartisan bill to fix it. Senator Rosen criticized the recently enacted extreme Republican tax law for including a damaging provision that limits Americans’ ability to deduct gaming losses, threatening jobs and economic growth in Nevada. Senator Rosen joined Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in an effort to seek unanimous consent to pass the FULL HOUSE Act, bipartisan legislation they introduced to fully repeal the harmful provision. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans blocked the effort.

Below are excerpts of Senator Rosen’s floor remarks:

I want to start out by thanking my friend and colleague, Senator Cortez Masto, for leading the effort to fix this terrible provision.

I have to say I’m extremely disappointed in what just happened. Senate Republicans are once again showing that they couldn’t care less about the impacts of their new extreme law.

Last week, President Trump signed into law Republicans’ disastrous “Big Beautiful Betrayal,” which among all the terrible cuts to health care and food assistance, and all of the rest, the “Big Beautiful Betrayal” included a damaging provision that will impose a higher tax burden for people who play games at casinos, casinos not just in Nevada but all around this country, and lose money.

So you heard that right. Under Republicans’ new law, individuals who play blackjack or poker, they’re on vacation, or any other games at casinos, will now owe taxes to the government on money they lost.

That’s because the Republicans’ extreme law placed a new limit on the amount of gaming losses that Americans can deduct.

So what does this actually mean? This means if someone wins a big jackpot in Las Vegas and then loses that one jackpot later on, they would still be liable for ten percent in taxes on gaming “income”, even though they had not brought home anything! Their loss equals their win. They had no winnings at all! 

How can that be right? How does it make sense? I don’t know, it’s Senate Republican math. That’s what they seem to use in their “Big Beautiful Betrayal” bill. 

That’s not just bad math, it’s bad policy.

So, what makes this even worse is that Senate Republicans snuck this provision in a terrible bill so they can collect more money from people so they can pay for more tax giveaways to billionaires, because that’s exactly what’s happening. It’s shameful. 

This is going to hurt people who visit casinos and hurt Nevada’s gaming industry more broadly, which supports nearly a third of jobs in our state and generates billions of dollars for the local economy. 

That’s why Senator Cortez Masto and I agree that we must pass our FULL HOUSE Act and eliminate this new tax burden. 

I’m extremely disappointed that Washington politicians are refusing to fix a terrible policy they enacted that is going to hurt my state, our state, and our economy. 

We need to restore the full wagering loss deduction and bring fairness back to our tax system, and I won’t stop working, won’t stop pushing, until this gets done.

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