Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Senate Solutions to Secure Our Southern Border
October 27, 2023 We are living in the worst border crisis on record. It is a humanitarian and security crisis. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported yet another record with 269,735 encounters at the southern border last month. There have now been over 8 million encounters with individuals at the border since Joe Biden became President. To put it in perspective, that’s more encounters in less […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Expanding Access to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL)
October 20, 2023 On and off the court, Jaz Shelley is a star for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) basketball team. Jaz earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for her electric play. She earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for her work in the classroom. She’s beloved with fans and teammates alike. Like many players, she receives […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: I Stand With Israel
October 13, 2023 Last week, Islamic terrorists from Hamas pushed into Israel in a surprise attack from land, sea, and air. The stories, images, and videos of the attacks depict a level of savagery that shocks the conscience. Hamas murdered civilians and soldiers alike. Over 1,300 Israelis and at least 27 Americans are dead. The Prime Minister’s office said Israeli […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Schumer Shouldn’t Have Sent Senators Home
October 6, 2023 Last weekend, America was brought to the brink of a government shutdown. This happened, in part, because President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer squeezed the calendar. First, Biden delivered his budget to Congress over a month late. As I laid out last week, Schumer played political games with the Senate calendar as well. Congress must […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Chuck Schumer’s Shutdown Games
September 29, 2023 Massive and reckless spending to fund big government programs has given us a national debt of over $33 trillion. That’s over $251,000 per household. This debt has real consequences. High debt leads to higher consumer costs and interest rates. It slows economic growth. It stifles opportunities for American families. With stubbornly high […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Fighting Big Government Failures at the Social Security Administration
September 22, 2023 Social Security is the largest program in the federal budget, managing over $1 trillion in payments to roughly 70 million beneficiaries annually. It’s a necessary program and an important part of retirement for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, like many big government programs, Washington is failing to prevent its waste, fraud, and abuse […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Americans Should Keep Their Full Social Security Check
September 15, 2023 Since its creation in 1935, Social Security has been the backbone of most Americans’ retirement plans. For decades, workers paid into Social Security via the payroll tax each pay period. According to the Social Security Administration, nearly nine out of ten people aged 65 and older received a Social Security benefit as […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Getting Answers for our POW/MIA Families
September 8, 2023 Over a half a century ago, President John F. Kennedy once said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” National POW/MIA Recognition Day on September 15 is an opportunity to honor and remember the women and men […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: The Reality of Electric Vehicles
September 1, 2023 Out-of-touch Washington, D.C. bureaucrats are trying to impose their preferences on the entire country. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced burdensome new emissions requirements on American-made vehicles, including both light cars and heavy-duty trucks. These standards require up to two-thirds of new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. to be electric vehicles (EVs) in just eight years. That’s practically an EV […]
Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: President Biden’s Failed Foreign Policy
August 25, 2023 Two years ago this week, the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan was pure chaos. The city fell to the Taliban as the Biden administration hastily withdrew from the country. We were overwhelmed by the stories of thousands of Americans and Afghans attempting to flee the country. Images of people climbing over fences, mothers giving their babies to strangers, and desperate Afghans chasing planes down the runway shocked the world. […]