Opinion

Each year, millions of students and their families make the very important decision of whether or where to attend college. For many, it’s the biggest decision they will make in their lives to date. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form gives them crucial information about what aid they qualify for. This includes federal student loans, Pell Grants, and work-study programs. Families rely on this aid to afford higher education. President Biden’s Department of Education promised an improved FAFSA form. Instead, Biden’s administration delivered a fiasco that continues to hurt students today. I’m working to help Nebraska students and their families navigate this chaos.

Memorial Day was born out of our nation’s most fractured and pivotal moment: the Civil War. Battered and worn after four years of internal strife, America nonetheless emerged intact in 1865, the dream of the Union preserved.

Memorial Day weekend recently passed. This day we honor those who died in the line of duty wearing the uniform of our country. To the family and friends of loved ones I say, “May God bless you.” There are over four thousand “Gold Star” families in Nebraska. Memorial Day is the special day we remember your sacrifice.

Let’s face it, Nebraska has high property taxes, the seventh highest in the country according to the Tax Foundation, which tracks such things. “Lots of land, not a lot of people,” has always been the catchphrase, which translates into a higher burden of property taxes.

In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Biden did not have the constitutional authority to mass transfer up to $400 billion in student loan debt from borrowers to American taxpayers. Rather than properly acknowledge the ruling of the court, earlier this year, the president unveiled a new student loan forgiveness plan, again handing the bill to hardworking Americans. Biden’s new plan already faces similar legal challenges on which the Supreme Court will likely again weigh in.

W With the summer growing and travel season upon us, the cost of energy is top-of-mind for many. Unfortunately, the Biden administration continues to barrel down a dead end of poorly considered energy policy.

insights frOm d.C . For 16 hours in 1969, Montreal, Canada was a Defund the Police experiment.

One of the great, unsolved mysteries in the state has been why the beloved Trev Alberts left his alma mater to become athletic director at Texas A&M. Alberts was an All-American football player at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, then eventually became athletic director at the school after a successful stint at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

WashingtOn d.C . Nebraska is the Beef State.

In 2021 I passed LB 387. This bill exempted military retired pay from Nebraska state income tax. For decades thousands of retiring service members, many of them Nebraskans, did not come home because they could live in a state that did not tax their retired pay. I am happy to report I have heard from an increasing number of retiring service members who have told me they are coming home to the state they were born and raised in, because of this bill. A senator does not often receive feedback from a bill passing that is as rewarding as this is. Causing this to happen is exactly why I introduced this bill.