Senator Ricketts’ Weekly Column: Elections Have Consequences

In America, elections are about choices. Choices have consequences. A president’s policies and priorities shape our economy, our freedoms, and our standing in the world. We saw it in 2016 when voters chose Donald Trump. His policies built a strong economy that included lower taxes and energy independence. He also brought strength and security at home and abroad. We saw the consequences of our elections again in 2020. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have brought stubbornly high costs of living and higher taxes. Under Biden-Harris, we’ve also seen an open border and appeasement to adversaries. The implications of our choices in the coming election will impact America for generations to come.

Let’s start with the economy. Under President Trump, we saw economic growth that benefited families in Nebraska and across the country. Trump cut taxes, helping working families keep more of their paychecks. Businesses were also able to invest and create jobs. We saw the benefit of this firsthand in Nebraska with one of the lowest state unemployment rates in the country. Nationwide unemployment fell to a 50-year low. More Americans were employed – 160 million – than ever before. Income inequality shrank for the first time in three decades. Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans also reached record lows. With lower taxes and fewer regulations, small businesses invested in their operations and grew their businesses. Trump’s pro-growth policies worked.

Kamala Harris, on the other hand, supports raising taxes and increasing government spending. Her policies would put more strain on Nebraska families and small businesses. The Biden-Harris administration recklessly spent trillions of dollars on partisan spending bills. It sent inflation through the roof. Families are paying over $13,000 per year for the same quality of life they had when this administration took office. Grocery prices are up 22%. Rent is up nearly 23%. Wages aren’t keeping up. In fact, despite average hourly wage going up, Nebraskans are actually 4% poorer when compared to inflation. That means despite maybe getting a raise or a higher-paying job, inflation is making it harder for working Nebraskans to make ends meet.

Another key issue in this election is energy. Under Donald Trump, we became energy independent for the first time in decades. His “all of the above” energy strategy lowered energy costs and led the world in carbon emissions reductions. In Nebraska, this meant cheaper fuel for families, farmers, and truckers. Kamala Harris, however, has supported extreme environmental policies like the Green New Deal. She believes that Washington bureaucrats should be able to regulate everything from electric stoves to the water in drainage ditches. The Biden-Harris administration has pushed a delusional EV mandate that would require up to two-thirds of all new cars and trucks to be EVs in eight years. As a result of all of this, electricity prices have risen over 30%. Gas prices are up over 37%.

On national security, Donald Trump brought illegal border crossings to a 45-year low. He made progress on constructing the border wall, went after drug cartels, and kept Americans safe. Under “Border Czar” Kamala Harris, we have a catastrophe. There have been 10.3 million illegal crossings under the Biden-Harris administration. They abused parole that allows people to stay in the country. Under the Obama and Trump administrations, an average of around 5,600 people per year were granted parole into this country. In 2022, under the Biden-Harris abuse of parole, that number was estimated to be close to 1.2 million people.

These open borders policies have created a national security, drug, and humanitarian crisis. It will have far-reaching consequences. It’s killing young people like Nebraskan Taryn Lee Griffith as fentanyl pours into our communities. It’s risking our national security. In Fiscal Year 2023, Border Patrol encountered 169 people on the terror watch list. Under Trump, that number was in the single digits. The border crisis is also going to have major ramifications on our elections. Right now, illegal immigrants continue to be counted in census data that is used to determine electoral college votes and congressional representation.

Foreign policy is another area where the difference between Trump and Harris is clear. Under President Trump, we saw historic peace deals in the Middle East and a dismantling of the ISIS caliphate. Weakness and appeasement have defined the current administration starting with the shameful Afghanistan withdrawal and multiple Chinese violations to our sovereignty. We’ve seen Vladmir Putin’s Russia invade Ukraine and Iran and its proxies attack Israel. We don’t need more of an appeasement-first foreign policy that has emboldened our adversaries and invited aggression. Peace must be maintained through strength.

The future of our state and our country depends on the choices we make. We can choose economic prosperity or reckless spending. We can choose energy independence or delusional mandates. We can choose peace through strength or appeasement. For the sake of our state and our nation, we must each choose wisely.