Without any real accomplishments of his own, a new report reveals that Joe Lombardo is running on Democratic wins he previously criticized.
From taking credit for the expansion of I-80 in Northern Nevada to federal approval of Nevada’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment initiative, Lombardo is touting accomplishments only made possible by funding from the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — which Lombardo opposed, calling it “reckless.”
Lombardo also touted Reno-area projects by Redwood Materials, but Redwood’s expansion was supported by clean energy tax credits passed as part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — which Trump has phased out through his budget bill that Lombardo celebrated.
Nevada Current: Lombardo praises projects made possible by Biden’s ‘disastrous policies’
- From blanketing the state with high-speed internet to widening a critical Northern Nevada interstate, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has hailed programs enabled by former President Joe Biden’s spending initiatives, which the governor previously panned.
- Lombardo, during his reelection campaign announcement in Sparks last year, touted the expansion of I-80 in Washoe County as an accomplishment of his administration.
- The project, however, was made possible by $275 million in federal funding from Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), known as the bipartisan infrastructure law.
- Just months after passage of the measure, which was worth $4 billion to Nevada, Lombardo, as a gubernatorial hopeful, not for the first time, called out Biden’s “reckless spending. We need leadership that ensures our families and businesses are protected from these disastrous policies.”
- The spending bill came on the heels of Biden’s American Rescue Plan which yielded $2.7 billion in federal aid for Nevada and $890 million to local governments.
- As governor, Lombardo urged Biden in a letter in 2024 to end “excessive federal spending” and later hailed President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, enacted last year, which sought to undo a number of Biden-era initiatives, particularly spending for clean energy.
- While his office won’t say how the governor’s position on Biden’s policies has evolved, the governor continues to embrace and take credit for Nevada projects enabled by Biden’s initiatives.
- In January, Lombardo announced federal approval of Nevada’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment initiative.
- “A commitment was made to connect every Nevadan to reliable, high-speed internet, and it remains one of my top priorities,” Lombardo said, calling the broadband expansion an “essential investment in Nevada’s future.”
- But the commitment Lombardo referenced was made possible by $170 million of the state’s $416 million federal allotment for broadband from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and includes funding from Nevada’s $2.7 billion allotment from Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act.
- Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Lombardo hailed, eliminated the tax credits that helped power electric vehicle sales that feed Redwood’s battery stockpile.
- Even as he publicly denounced Biden’s spending initiatives, Lombardo has worked publicly and behind the scenes to capitalize on the endeavors they funded.
- Lombardo’s spokesman has not responded when asked repeatedly whether Trump restored subsidies for dozens of projects that were stalled when the president eliminated their clean energy tax credits, and if so, why the president singled out the state.
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