Two weeks ago, I stopped at the Hy-Vee grocery store off Pioneers Boulevard in Lincoln. I’d spent the day traveling back from meeting with Nebraskans in North Platte, Kearney and Grand Island – a long day on Interstate 80.
On my way in, an older gentleman recognized me and told me his story. He had lived right, paid his taxes on time, and contributed to Social Security his whole life. But now, that fixed income was buying less milk, fewer eggs and hardly any beef.
This wasn’t the future he’d expected. I thanked him for his thoughts, and as he walked away, he said, "Oh, and can you also fix that damn border?"
All Americans, and Nebraskans especially, don’t need much to be happy. We take care of ourselves, and we work hard. But we do expect a safe place to raise a family, and a fair shot at earning a decent living – or at least enough to pay for housing, food and the occasional Huskers game.
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When my husband Bruce and I raised our family on the family ranch in Cherry County, things were different. Bringing up a family is hard work, but groceries were more affordable, and we knew that the police would keep the streets safe, all while the best military in the world protected our borders and our freedoms.
But as everyone now knows, including the gentleman in the parking lot of Hy-Vee, that’s not the America we’re living in anymore.
Nebraska’s families today are paying about $1,140 more a month for essentials than they were just four years ago. We all feel the pinch in the checkout line, or when we pay our heating bill, or when we’re forced to choose between new school supplies and the mortgage payment. But when you put a dollar value on it, the loss is staggering. Every Nebraska family took at least a $13,000 pay cut this year compared to four years ago, and they didn’t do a thing to deserve it.
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The last four years, approximately five times the population of the entire state of Nebraska has poured into the United States – the vast majority across our southern border. Some people say illegal immigration is a victimless crime, what’s the big deal?
Try telling that to the Americans who’ve seen what an open border does to communities – sons and daughters lost to drug overdoses or violent crime, fathers and mothers who can’t get ahead at work because illegal immigrants work for less money under the table, or the hospitals and other social services that are now forced to care for people who aren’t even supposed to be here in the first place.
In the last four years, the world has gone from a largely safe, stable place to literally on fire. Israel is fighting for its life, but America isn’t standing beside them. China is expanding its influence commercially and building up its military, but we’re not keeping up. Russia is taking advantage of weak American leadership, and other states will soon follow. The entire world that American leadership, power and commerce built the last 80 years is slipping through our fingers.
It’s not the America – or the world – I want my grandchildren to grow up in.
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When I first ran for Senate, I promised that I wouldn’t be another talking head on TV, another Washington show pony. Nebraska deserved a work horse, and so I put my head down and did the work. And I can honestly say to you today that I’ve delivered for the state that I love.
In my years of public life, I’ve put $4 billion into repairing highways and local roads, rebuilding bridges, ensuring safe drinking water, and modernizing airports, including Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and the Lincoln Airport.
I’ve pushed for more funding for our troops, and I passed defense bills to reverse decades of a decline in American military power. I’ve also supported Nebraska’s role in keeping America safe, by fighting for improvements not only to our intercontinental ballistic missiles in the western part of the state, but also to Offutt Air Force Base in the east.
And I’ve voted many, many times to secure our border – for all the good it's done during this administration.
I worked with President Trump to pass better trade deals for our producers, and I’ve passed farm bills to keep the future of family farms and ranches alive for the next generation.
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I voted against the outrageous spending and regulations that fueled inflation. And I passed legislation that would have lowered the cost of shipping to keep grocery prices down – but President Biden vetoed it.
Working with Omaha law enforcement, I passed a law just this year to make it easier to recruit and retain police officers so that the streets are safer for our kids. And I’ve passed the first ever national paid family leave law so that we don’t have to choose between earning a living and taking care of those kids.
Despite all these things, I find myself in the same situation as the gentleman outside Hy-Vee – heartbroken by the current state of this nation, and deeply concerned for the future.
But with new leadership in Washington, and God willing, we will reverse America’s decline this November.
My name is Deb Fischer. I’m asking Nebraskans for their vote so we can change the course of this country. I’m asking for their trust and their support so we can build the future our children and grandchildren deserve – not the one we’re headed toward.
