Sen. Benjamin “Ben” Sasse
Former Senator for Nebraska
pronounced BEN-juh-min // sass
Sasse was a senator from Nebraska and was a Republican. He served from 2015 to 2023.
![Photo of Sen. Benjamin “Ben” Sasse [R-NE, 2015-2023]](/static/legislator-photos/412671-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Sasse.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Sasse is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Sasse has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Sep 27, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Sasse was the primary sponsor of 2 bills that were enacted:
- S.J.Res. 26 (115th): A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to …
- S. 17 (115th): GAO Access and Oversight Act of 2017
Does 2 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Sasse sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (25%) Crime and Law Enforcement (18%) Health (14%) Education (11%) Government Operations and Politics (11%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) International Affairs (7%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Sasse recently introduced the following legislation:
- S.Res. 715 (117th): A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate on the value of …
- S. 3550 (117th): Ethics Reform Act
- S. 3516 (117th): Increase Access to COVID Testing Act
- S. 3191 (117th): Everyday Philanthropist Act
- S. 2303 (117th): Democracy in Hong Kong Congressional Gold Medal Act
- S. 2165 (117th): Education Savings Accounts for Military Families Act of 2021
- S. 2171 (117th): A bill to prohibit Presidential appointees from subsequently acting on behalf of …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to Dec 2022, Sasse missed 90 of 2,769 roll call votes, which is 3.3%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2022. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
