Tuesday, January 23, will mark Senator Pete Ricketts’ first full year. He made a brief stop in Nebraska last weekend and sat down with KETV for an exclusive interview about his first year in office, his biggest priorities and his thoughts on a potential challenge in 2024. “DC is a big city and I live in Nebraska for a reason,” he said. “Nebraska is a big, small town. One of the biggest surprises has been how nice the Democrats are. You see on TV how polarized things are – and we certainly have our differences on policy issues – but everything the world treats itself with civility.” , Ricketts officially filed for re-election. Since being appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen last year, he has said he wants to remain in the Senate. Last week, Ricketts voted yes on a bipartisan stopgap measure to keep the government funded through the first week of March. He has taken a keen interest in the budget process since his time in Washington, DC. “The system is very flawed and that includes the appropriations process,” he said. “We’re supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills to fund the government in the House and Senate, and frankly, Senator Schumer has been dragging his feet. We’ve only passed three of those bills.” Ricketts noted that spending increased 40% between 2019 and 2023 at the federal level, which is confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office. This increase is largely due to the pandemic and the resulting inflation figures, which peaked at over 9% in June 2022. By December 2023, it returned to 3.4%. The Federal Reserve has repeatedly said its target is 2.0%. “You can propose amendments to start controlling spending – that’s what we need to do,” he said. When asked if Ricketts was comfortable with the current $1.6 trillion budget figure, he reiterated that spending is out of control and a regular appropriations process with authorized senators proposing amendments will help. signing office and that’s how the system is supposed to work,” he said. The latest official figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show 242,000 migrant encounters in November 2023 at the U.S.-Mexico border, but the official figure for December is widely estimated to exceed a record 300,000. “Joe Biden has announced to the world that our southern border is open,” Ricketts said. “He refuses to take action to control this or enforce the law.” Ricketts has problems with the way immigrant parole is used, as do several other Republican senators. According to Senate Republicans, about 5,600 people have been paroled every year under the Obama and Trump administrations, but in 2023, that number has climbed to more than 1 million. Click here to learn how Customs and Border Protection defines parole. “He is absolutely abusing the process,” Ricketts said. The former Nebraska governor said he visited the border four times, both as governor and senator. “We are working on an additional bill that includes border security to force the president to begin parole reform and fix the broken asylum process,” Ricketts said. “People play the game.” He said he agreed with the idea of withholding more funding for Ukraine and Israel until the White House and Democrats agree on border issues. “Asylum is supposed to be for people who don’t feel safe in their country, but the people I talk to just want a new job,” Ricketts said. “This is no reason to seek asylum. The system needs to be fixed.” Ricketts wants more resources for border patrol and said the border wall needs to be expanded, noting that law enforcement at the border told him the walls work. On Sunday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he was withdrawing from the presidential race. Ricketts said he doesn’t pick favorites that early. “I don’t support the primary,” Ricketts said. “I know all of these people and generally consider them friends, but I will support the Republican nominee to replace Joe Biden in the White House. His policies have been terrible. Just ask yourself: Are you better off today, or were you in better shape today? are you better under Trump? KETV also asked Ricketts about Preston Love, a longtime community advocate in north Omaha, who announced last week that he was running for Ricketts’ seat in the U.S. Senate. “I’m just going to continue to do what I do, which is a job for the people of Nebraska,” Ricketts said. “Part of our strategy is to bring our solutions from Nebraska to America. » Nebraska’s two U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs in 2024, a rarity that is the result of Ben Sasse leaving his seat in 2023 to become president of the University of Florida. Ricketts was appointed by Pillen to fill the position temporarily, and a special election will be held in 2024 for the remaining two years. Another election will be held for the same seat in 2026 for a full six-year term.
Tuesday, January 23, will mark Senator Pete Ricketts’ first full year. He made a brief stop in Nebraska last weekend and sat down with KETV for an exclusive interview about his first year in office, his biggest priorities and his thoughts on a potential 2024 challenge.
“DC is a big city and I live in Nebraska for a reason,” he said. “Nebraska is a big, small town. One of the biggest surprises has been how nice the Democrats are. You see on TV how polarized things are – and we certainly have our differences on policy issues – but everything the world treats itself with civility.”
Recently, Ricketts officially filed for re-election. Since being appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen last year, he has said he wants to remain in the Senate.
Last week, Ricketts voted yes on a bipartisan stopgap measure to keep the government funded through the first week of March. He has taken a keen interest in the budget process since his time in Washington, DC.
“The system is very broken and that includes the crediting process,” he said. “We’re supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills to fund the government in the House and Senate, and frankly, Senator Schumer has been dragging his feet. We’ve only passed three of those bills.”
Ricketts noted that spending increased 40% between 2019 and 2023 at the federal level, which is confirmed by the Congressional Budget Office. This increase is largely due to the pandemic and the resulting inflation figures, which peaked at over 9% in June 2022. By December 2023, it returned to 3.4%.
The Federal Reserve has repeatedly said its target is 2.0%.
“You can propose amendments to start controlling spending, that’s what we need to do,” he said.
When asked if Ricketts was comfortable with the current budget figure of $1.6 trillion, he reiterated that spending is out of control and that a regular appropriations process with senators allowed to make amendments would be helpful.
“I would like us to actually get back to the people’s business, which is to pass these appropriations bills, propose amendments, submit them to the House and the Senate, send them to the president’s desk for signature and This is how the system is supposed to work,” he said.
THE latest official figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show 242,000 migrant encounters in November 2023 at the U.S.-Mexico border, but the official number for December is widely estimated to be higher than 300,000, a record.
“Joe Biden announced to the world that our southern border is open,” Ricketts said. “He refuses to take action to control it or enforce the law.”
Ricketts has problems with the way parole is used, with several other Republican senators. According to Senate Republicans, about 5,600 people were paroled each year during the Obama and Trump administrations, but by 2023 that number has climbed to more than 1 million people.
Click here to learn more about how Customs and Border Protection defines parole..
“He is absolutely abusing the process,” Ricketts said.
The former Nebraska governor said he visited the border four times, both as governor and senator.
“We are working on an additional bill that includes border security to force the president to begin parole reform and fix the broken asylum process,” Ricketts said. “People play it.”
He said he agreed with withholding more funding for Ukraine and Israel until the White House and Democrats agree on border issues.
“Asylum is supposed to be for people who don’t feel safe in their country, but the people I talk to just want a new job,” Ricketts said. “This is no reason to seek asylum. The system needs to be fixed.”
Ricketts wants more resources for border patrol and said the border wall needs to be expanded, noting that law enforcement at the border told him the walls work.
On Sunday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he is withdrawing from the presidential race.. Ricketts said he doesn’t pick favorites that early.
“I don’t support the primary,” Ricketts said. “I know all of these people and generally consider them friends, but I will support the Republican nominee to replace Joe Biden in the White House. His policies have been terrible. Just ask yourself: Are you better off today, or were you in better shape today? are you better under Trump?
KETV also asked Ricketts about Preston Love, a longtime advocate for the north Omaha community, who announced last week that he was running for Ricketts’ seat in the US Senate.
“I’m just going to continue to do what I do, which is work for the people of Nebraska,” Ricketts said. “Part of our strategy is to bring our Nebraska solutions to America.”
Both of Nebraska’s U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs in 2024, a rarity. following the resignation of Ben Sasse from his seat in 2023 to become president of the University of Florida.
Ricketts was nominated by Pillen to fill the position temporarily, and special elections will be held in 2024 for the remaining two years.
Another election will be held for the same seat in 2026 for a full six-year term.
