About Ben - Senator Ben Sasse

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<li> <a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/about">About Ben</a> </li> </ul> <div class="pageactions hidden-print hidden-xs"> <a href="javascript:window.print();" class="print">Print</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <div id="content"> <div id="content-inner" class="clearfix"> <div id="copy" class="col-md-9"><div id="copy-inner"> <div id="copy-content"> <div id="group_6a878f4d-3897-44dd-b52c-abfb5585c51d" class="pagegroup pagegroup_textblocks odd first"> <div class="element element_textblocks"> <div class="section"> <div class="article"> <p><img align="left" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20220511233551im_/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=BB06C1DB-A91D-4C8B-881B-F025E7A3129C" hspace="10" vspace="10"/></p> <p>Ben Sasse is a fifth-generation Nebraskan with the honor of representing the Cornhusker state in the U.S. Senate. Having never run for anything before, he and his family campaigned tirelessly in a rickety old campaign bus in 2013 and 2014, ultimately winning all of Nebraska's 93 counties in one of the biggest landslides in state history.</p> <p>After deciding with his family to run for re-election in 2020, Ben set a record, earning the most votes in the history of Nebraska — again winning all 93 counties.</p> <p>Like many Nebraskans, Ben learned about hard work in corn and bean fields at an early age. The son of a coach and a graduate of Fremont High, he was recruited to wrestle at Harvard and subsequently earned a PhD in American history at Yale. An occasional professor, Ben has spent most of his worklife helping companies and institutions through technological and leadership disruptions. He’s worked with the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey and Company, as well as private equity firms and not-for-profit organizations, to tackle failing strategies across dozens of sectors and nations.</p> <p>Before being elected to the Senate, Ben spent five years as a college president. When he was recruited to lead Midland University, Ben was just 37, making him one of the youngest college presidents in the nation. The 130-year-old Lutheran college in Ben’s hometown was on the verge of bankruptcy when he arrived, but became one of the nation's fastest-growing schools just three years later.</p> <p>A member of the intelligence, judiciary, finance, and budget committees, Ben is focused on the future of work, the future of war, and the First Amendment. He worries that the Senate lacks urgency about cyber and about the nation’s generational debt crisis. An opponent of perpetual incumbency, he has no intention of spending his life in the Senate.</p> <p>Ben has written two books – one about the evaporating distinction between adolescence and perpetual adolescence in economies with limited work for teenagers, and the other about the paradox of loneliness and collapsing local community precisely as the digital revolution makes middle-class Americans the richest people in human history. Both books quickly became national best-sellers.</p> <p>Ben and his wife, Melissa, have three kids – Corrie, Alex, and Breck, any one of whom can often be spotted accompanying their dad on their weekly commute from Nebraska to Capitol Hill. In their spare time, the Sasse kids seek to break their parents via more unauthorized pet adoptions.</p> </div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div> </div> </div><div id="group_9e6094bb-7596-49ac-abd0-202e06ef391a" class="pagegroup pagegroup_links even"> <div class="element element_links"> <div class="section link-list clear clearfix"> <div class="header pagegroup-title"><h2>Committee Assignments</h2></div> <ul class="unstyled list-group"> <li class="list-group-item odd first"> <div class="list-group-item-heading title"><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220511233551/https://www.finance.senate.gov/" target="_blank">United States Senate Committee on Finance</a></strong></div> <div class="list-group-item-text"><div class="content">The Senate Finance Committee (formerly the Select Committee on Finance and Uniform National Currency) has jurisdiction over trade, tax, and health care policy. The committee also is tasked with oversight and reform of federal entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.</div></div> </li> <li class="list-group-item even"> <div class="list-group-item-heading title"><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220511233551/https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/" target="_blank">United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary</a></strong></div> <div class="list-group-item-text"><div class="content">Established in 1816 as one of the original standing committees in the United States Senate, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary's broad legislative jurisdiction has assured its primary role as a forum for the public discussion of social and constitutional issues. The Committee is also responsible for oversight of key activities of the executive branch, and is responsible for the initial stages of the confirmation process of all judicial nominations for the federal judiciary.</div></div> </li> <li class="list-group-item odd"> <div class="list-group-item-heading title"><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220511233551/https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/" target="_blank">United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence</a></strong></div> <div class="list-group-item-text"><div class="content">The Committee was created by the Senate in 1976 to “oversee and make continuing studies of the intelligence activities and programs of the United States Government,” to “submit to the Senate appropriate proposals for legislation and report to the Senate concerning such intelligence activities and programs,” and to “provide vigilant legislative oversight over the intelligence activities of the United States to assure that such activities are in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States.”</div></div> </li> <li class="list-group-item even last"> <div class="list-group-item-heading title"><strong><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220511233551/https://www.budget.senate.gov/" target="_blank">United States Senate Committee on the Budget</a></strong></div> <div class="list-group-item-text"><div class="content">Established in 1974, the Committee on the Budget is one of the newest committees in the Senate and is responsible for carrying out many duties assigned to Congress in Article 1 of the Constitution, specifically acting as "the power of the purse." Some of those responsibilities include drafting budget plans, debt-limit legislation, monitoring and enforcing spending, revenue, and the federal budget.</div></div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div><div id="group_e2eb5993-ca45-45ba-85b1-97d6abe7fa81" class="pagegroup pagegroup_files odd last"> <div class="element element_files"> <div class="section file-list clear clearfix"> <ul class="list-group list-unstyled unstyled files"> <li class="list-group-item image jpg odd first last"> <i class="icon-file"></i> <span class="title">Official Portrait - </span> <span class="url"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/?a=Files.Serve&File_id=7563ED0D-C670-4AFA-916A-0FA48D2E1B6C">Senator Ben Sasse.jpg</a> (1.1 MBs)</span> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div id="sidebar-psuedo" class="col-md-3 hidden-xs hidden-sm hidden-print"></div> <div id="sidebar" class="col-md-3 hidden-print show-related"><div id="sidebar-inner"> <ul id="related-links" class="nav nav-list"> <li class="nav_about even active"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/about">About Ben</a></li> <li class="nav_services odd"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/services">Constituent Services</a></li> <li class="nav_issues even"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/issues">Issues</a></li> <li class="nav_newsroom odd"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsroom">Newsroom</a></li> <li class="nav_contact even"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact">Contact Ben</a></li> <li class="nav_search odd"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/search">Search</a></li> <li class="nav_privacy-policy even last"><a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a></li> </ul> </div></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mainbody-psuedo"></div> </div> <div id="footer" class="hidden-print"> <div id="footer-inner" class="clearfix"> <div class="container"> <div id="footer-content" class="clearfix"> <div class="footer-left"> <strong>Ben Sasse:</strong> U.S. Senator for Nebraska<br/> <a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/">Home</a> | <a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact">Contact</a> | <a href="/web/20220511233551/https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a> </div> <div class="footer-right"> 139 Russell Senate Office Building<br/> Washington, DC 20510<br/> Phone: 202-224-4224 </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript">var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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About Ben - Senator Ben Sasse