KLKN Tv - Ben Sasse Reflects on First Week as U.S. Senator

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By Lauren Fabrizi

Ben Sasse returned home from Washington, D.C., Saturday after his first official week as U.S. Senator.

But his journey is only beginning.

"The citizens of Nebraska deserve Washington to work for them but you kind of know that D.C.'s a dysfunctional place," Sen. Sasse said. "And you get there and you see a lot of that process is slow, takes a long time to get much done and there are a lot of people who want to argue over small things when we have big challenges in the country and we need to get to work."

Sasse and 12 other freshman senators were sworn in Tuesday. One of his top priorities is to pass a budget.

"In the last 6 years, the Congress has only passed a budget one time," Sasse said. "That's not the way Nebraska farmers, ranchers, and small business people live our loves. You budget to prioritize and figure out what you can afford and what you can't afford."

Last week, the Nebraska Supreme Court overturned the lower court's ruling, which found the law used to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline's route through Nebraska unconstitutional, making that route valid.

In the Senate, all 54 Republican senators and some Democrats have co--sponsored a Keystone authorization.

"It'll pretty clearly pass next week and we'll see what the president does," Sasse said. "He's obviously issued a veto on that."

Some challenges Sasse thinks the Senate will face involve combating the so--called entitlement crisis and creating a more cohesive foreign policy. A week in, the freshman senator has already co--sponsored a term limits bill.

"I think we'd be a lot healthier if more Americans served in government and went back home, and a lot of the people currently in government went back to being productive workers in the private sector," Sasse said.

Sasse will commute to and from D.C. His family will make the trip as often as they can.

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