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enjamin Eric Sasse: Plainview (Pierce County), Nebraska-born academic,
author, government official
- U.S. Senate seat (January 3, 2015 – term ending 2021) Former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation (December 19, 2007 – January 20, 2009); President of Midland University (December 10, 2010 – December 31, 2014);
- Author of Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal (2018); and The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-age Crisis—and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-reliance (2017)
- Harvard University (junior year abroad at Oxford University) government baccalaureate
- St. John’s private non-religious liberal arts college known for its Great Books curriculum (dual campuses in Annapolis, Maryland, and Santa Fe, New Mexico) Graduate Institute’s master of arts in liberal studies
- Yale University history doctorate
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asse’s advice on Congressional committees
September 2020 opinion piece - his observations in a nutshell seem sound
“In the presence of cameras, senators ‘aren’t trying to learn from witnesses, uncover details, or improve legislation. They’re competing for sound bites,’ he wrote. ‘Without posturing for cameras, Republicans and Democrats cooperate on some of America’s most complicated and urgent problems.’”
This Sasse observation seems accurate. It is true of members of both houses of congress—and the executive. These people present as crooks and clowns, constantly putting on a show; driving the people into an unbridgeable chasm of tribal warfare, and the nation more and more deeply into failure (America, the failed state).
“The Senate’s tradition wants dramatic change geared toward selling
(promoting) debate; not ending it,” he writes. Toward that end, he suggests the
following
Lower the cameras.
Most of what occurs in committee hearings isn’t oversight (but) showmanship.
Senators make speeches that get chopped up, shipped to home-state TV stations, and blasted throughout social media.
They aren’t attempting to study (testimony) from witnesses, uncover particulars, or enhance laws.
They’re competing for sound bites.
[The committee exception he cites is the “Senate Choose Committee on
Intelligence” where “the vast majority” of work completed by Republicans and
Democrats “is finished in secret, without posturing for cameras.”]
Different committees might retain transparency “by making transcripts and real-time audio (available to) the general public.”
Abolish standing committees.
The Senate is meant to be the world’s best deliberative physique; nevertheless, it operates on about 20 everlasting fiefdoms.
Dividing legislative work is essential, however there’s no company that will deal with its issues by creating 20 everlasting committees and operating each resolution by way of them.
The Senate ought to, as an alternative, create momentary two-year committees, each devoted to creating actual progress on one or two huge issues.
Committees ought to draw energy from their accomplishments—not based primarily on which industries must supplicate earlier than the gavel.
Pack the ground.
Severe debate occurs provided that senators present up (show up in person).
Ninety-nine percent of the time you see a senator speaking on the ground, he’s talking to a chamber with someplace between zero and two colleagues current.
The Senate’s guidelines privilege the bulk, which controls the agenda and ground time.
Senators should be packed on the ground having actual debates.
We will try this by altering the principles to permit committees to regulate some ground time.
Elections have penalties, so … (chief issues ought to manage) the vast majority of the Senate’s time; however, committees ought to be capable of commanding particular occasions for particular debates.
Reside collectively.
Lots of time is spent demonizing the opposition
However, most senators can get along fairly properly.
Senators ought to dwell, eat, and meet in dormitories when the Senate is in session.
It’s laborious to demonize individuals you spend time with day-after-day.
Cancel reelection.
One of Congress' many squanderers of “energy” is the political expediency “to keep away from selections that come from the work of legislating.”
Lawmakers are obsessive about staying in workplace, and one of many best methods of ensuring reelection “is by avoiding laborious choices.”
We should suggest a constitutional modification restricting each senator to at least one time period (one term), though doubled “from six years to 12 years.”
Senators who don’t have to fret about short-term reputation can work … on long-term challenges.
[Alternatively] “… ban fundraising (e.g., sandwiching a sit-down at a $2,000-a-plate lunch fundraiser with running over to make committee votes) while the Senate is in session in Washington.
Lobbying is protected by the First Modification; nevertheless, it shouldn’t be the first focus of senators after we’ve obtained work to do.
Repeal the 17th Modification.
Ratified in 1912, it changed the appointment of senators by state legislatures with direct election. Completely different states convey completely different options to the desk, and that should be mirrored within the Senate’s nationwide debate.
The previous saying was once that everyone’s politics is native; however in the present day—due to the Internet, 24/7 cable information, and a cottage trade devoted to political habit—politics is polarized and nationwide. That will change if state legislatures had direct management over who serves within the Senate.
Sundown the whole lot.
For many years, Pennsylvania Avenue has been a one-way road, as authority flowed from Congress to the chief department.
When the unelected paperwork gets energy, it doesn’t let go.
We ought to finish that with the Senate’s creating a ‘tremendous committee’ devoted to reviewing all such delegations of energy over the previous 80 years; after which proposing laws to sundown the authority of whole bureaucracies on a rolling foundation.
For example, does the ‘Well being and Human Providers Division’ ever reply for its aggressive regulatory lawmaking? No. Sundown all its authority in 12 months, and watch lawmakers begin to make precise legal guidelines.
Anchor Funding process in statutory principle
The ability of the purse is Congress’s major lever—and the place where Congress is most unserious.
The course of funds is totally damaged, and every few months lawmakers are confronted with a monumentally silly resolution:
‘Shut down the federal government or spend 102 percent of what was spent during the fiscal year, with no oversight.
It is a limitless sequence of all-or-nothing brinkmanship fights—persevering with resolutions, omnibus spending offers and debt-ceiling hikes.
We ought to repair that with two-year budgeting that features all federal spending, together with entitlements.
We ought to finish the excellence between appropriation and authorization.
Laws that authorize federal motion must also accept the cash to pay for it.
“These aren’t partisan proposals,” Sasse declares. “Congressional dysfunction isn’t a partisan problem.”
Over years, Congress (Republican and Democratic lawmakers) decided “to shirk its obligation and cede energy to the chief department” (the executive branch of government).
“Restoration shall be laborious. Nevertheless, it is time that Congress constructs some muscle and works out the best way to serve the American people— once more, doing our constitutionally mandated jobs.”
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asse’s record of sounding off: Votes and comments 2016-2020
2016
During primary season, Sasse reportedly announced that he would not support then-Republican front-runner Donald Trump; and questioned Trump’s commitment to the Constitution of the United States.
In the event of a Trump nomination, he reportedly said, “he would vote neither for him nor for then-Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton; but would probably ‘look for some third candidate—a conservative option, a Constitutionalist.’”
‘If the Republican Party becomes the party of David Duke, Donald Trump, I’m out.’”
Senator Sasse went on record as
“the only senator from either party to vote against the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which was intended to address abuse of heroin and opioid drugs by providing funds to the states for treatment and prevention programs and by making the anti-overdose drug naloxone more widely available to first responders and law enforcement agencies.”
[Naloxone (sold under the brand name Narcan, among others) is a medication used to block the effects of opioids; is commonly used to counter decreased breathing in opioid overdose (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naloxone.]
2017
Sasse reportedly describes President Trump as a “‘megalomaniac strongman’” whose “tariffs on steel and aluminum imports (are) ‘dumb,’; and whose “escalating trade war with China (is) ‘nuts.’”
February 2019
With fifteen other senators voted against legislation containing $1.375 billion for barriers along the United States-Mexico border, and “preventing a partial government shutdown.”
March 2019
With eleven other senators, Sasse cosponsored a resolution imposing a constitutional amendment limiting to nine the total number of justices on the Supreme Court of the United States.
2020
Sasse delivers a speech on the occasion of a commencement ceremony at his high school alma mater (Fremont Senior High School, Fremont, Nebraska) in which he reportedly attacks China “over the COVID-19 pandemic.” The school board later issues an official statement “disavowing responsibility for Sasse’s comments.”
October 2020
Audio clip of call reportedly obtained by the Washington Examiner
Sasse comments in interview with a “constituent” - Referring to President Trump
“In his partial defense here, I think that lots of the news media has pretended that COVID is literally the first public health crisis ever. And somehow, it’s Donald Trump’s fault. That’s not true. They just wanted to use it against him.”
Sasse continues
“But the reality is that he (President Trump) careened from curb to curb. First, he ignored COVID. And then he went into full economic shutdown mode. … I don’t think the way he’s led through COVID has been reasonable or responsible, or right.”
A Sense of the Electorate
“… [T]he overwhelming reason that President Trump won in 2016 was simply because Hillary Clinton was literally the most unpopular candidate in the history of polling.”
“I've spent lots of the last year on a campaign bus, and when you listen to Nebraskans, they don’t really want more rage tweeting as a new form of entertainment”
“[President Trump] … mocks evangelicals behind closed doors. His family has treated the presidency like a business opportunity. [The President] has flirted with white supremacists.”
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asse’s momentary concern?
That “… young people (will) become permanent Democrats because they’ve just been repulsed by the obsessive nature of our politics; (that) women who were willing to still vote with the Republican Party in 2016 (will) decide that they need to turn away from this party permanently in the future…”
Sources
Sasse, Benjamin “Make the Senate Great Again” September 8, 2020 Adam Jacob Technology 0 Consistent News via WSJ https://consistantnews.com/make-the-senate-great-again/
https://apkmetro.com/make-the-senate-great-again/
Constitution of the United States US Constitution Amendment 17 - Senators Elected by Popular Vote. Ratified 4/8/1913. History
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Benjamin Eric Sasse
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congresshttps://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=S001197
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Sasse
Washington Examiner “Exclusive: GOP Sen. Sasse says Trump ‘kisses dictators’ butts’ and mocks evangelicals” October 15, 2020 by David M. Drucker, Senior Political Correspondent https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/exclusive-gop-sen-sasse-says-trump-kisses-dictators-butts-mocks-evangelicals
Wall Street Journal “Republican Sen. Ben Sasse Criticizes Trump on Policies, Ethics” October 15, 2020 by Siobhan Hughes and Madeleine Ngo https://www.wsj.com/articles/republican-sen-ben-sasse-criticizes-trump-on-policies-ethics-11602811020
CBC “Ben Sasse, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, made comments to constituents” Associated Press October 16, 2020 https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/republican-sasse-trump-1.5764781
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