Ben Sasse's Warning to the Senate Went Unheeded
When Ben Sasse walked onto the Senate floor in November 2015 to deliver his first speech as a member of the upper chamber, he did something unusual: He had waited a full year to speak. It’s part of a Senate tradition known as the “maiden speech.” A historian by training and a management consulting associate by early vocation, he had spent his first year in the chamber interviewing colleagues, studying how the institution functioned, and developing a diagnosis before offering it publicly. When he finally spoke, the speech landed with enough force that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) distributed the text to every Republican senator, a gesture the Senate GOP leader at the time rarely made.
TL;DR
- Ben Sasse, a historian by training, delivered a critical speech about the Senate's dysfunction in 2015, arguing it prioritized fundraising and sound bites over legislating.
- Despite a terminal cancer diagnosis, Sasse continues to call for a more deliberative and less performative Senate, believing it should act as a check on the House and executive branches.
- Critics questioned Sasse's effectiveness, with some seeing him as a critic rather than a legislator, while others defend his role as a deliberative voice and his substantive work on committees like Intelligence.
- Sasse's legislative contributions included work on intellectual property protection against China and strengthening homeland security oversight.
- His viral statements during Brett Kavanaugh's and Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation hearings highlighted his view that Congress had delegated too much authority to courts and agencies.
- Sasse resigned from the Senate to become president of the University of Florida, citing the institution's unproductiveness, and later stepped down to care for his wife.
- Diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, Sasse launched a podcast and spoke publicly about his illness and his continued views on the Senate's need for deliberation.
- His final message emphasizes the Senate's need to be "plodding, and steady, and boring, and trustworthy," rather than resembling social media platforms.