Senator ben nelson nebraska biography

Nelson made his name and money in the insurance industry. After graduating from law school, Nelson landed a job as assistant general counsel for Central National Insurance Group of Omaha. In , he became state insurance director before going back to work for Central National Insurance as an executive vice president and eventually president. He won his first elected office in when he became governor of Nebraska.

Nelson served on the following committees: [3]. Nelson voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in and while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. The bill was passed in the Senate by an 89 - 8 vote on January 1, Nelson did not seek re-election in He defeated Pete Ricketts R.

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He ranked 11th on the list of the lowest paid Democratic senatorial staff salaries and ranked 40th overall of the lowest paid senatorial staff salaries in Overall, Nebraska ranks 38th in average salary for senatorial staff. The average U. Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets. Each year, National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted, as compared to other members, in the previous year.

More information about the analysis process can be found on the vote ratings page. His opponent was Attorney General Don Stenberg. Despite initially pledging to work together, [ 19 ] Nelson and now fellow U. Nelson was thought to be in danger of losing his seat in , as it was thought his successor as governor, Mike Johanns , was almost certain to run against him; that speculation ended when Johanns was appointed U.

Secretary of Agriculture. He also won all but 13 counties in the western part of the state, a surprising feat in normally heavily Republican Nebraska. Nelson is anti-abortion. In July , Senator Tom Coburn criticized earmarks that Nelson had inserted into the defense spending bill, alleging that they would benefit Nelson's son Patrick's employer with millions in federal dollars, and that the situation violated terms of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of , which the Senate passed but had not yet been voted on in the House.

Nelson's spokesperson said he did nothing wrong [ 32 ] and was acting with "an abundance of caution" when he withdrew the amendment after the new Senate Ethics Rules were passed. Some government watchdogs, including Public Citizen , commented that the earmark probably didn't violate ethics rules. In late , the Senate's 40 Republicans unanimously opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , the Senate's version of health-care legislation.

To end a Republican filibuster and pass the measure, the Democrats needed the votes of all 58 of their senators, plus those of two independents who caucused with their party. Nelson was the 60th and last senator to vote for cloture. According to Nelson, he wanted to ensure that the final version of the law prohibited the use of public funds for abortions.

People with plans that covered abortion costs would pay for that coverage separately from their payment for the rest of the plan. The health-care measure was controversial, and Nelson's vote provoked a strong response. Opponents of the Medicaid reimbursement scheme derided it as the "Cornhusker Kickback". Anti-abortion organizations also responded negatively to Nelson's vote.

Nelson's popularity fell among Nebraskans in the wake of his cloture vote. According to Omaha. With the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the death of Senator Edward Kennedy , Democrats lost their filibuster-proof majority. Since Brown had declared himself opposed to the health-care measure, the party's leadership opted to enact the legislation through the budget reconciliation process.

The measure as ultimately passed eliminated the special Medicaid reimbursement for Nebraska, as Nelson had requested in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about a month after his crucial cloture vote. On March 15, , Nelson was one of two Democratic senators to vote against invoking cloture on a resolution aimed at withdrawing most American combat troops from Iraq in The vote, requiring 60 votes to pass, was 50 to 48 against.

Senator ben nelson nebraska biography

As a result of traveling to Iraq four times, the last in September , [ 55 ] Nelson took the position that a transition of the mission in Iraq was necessary, as opposed to full withdrawal of troops. Jones presented a report to Congress claiming that "The circumstances of the moment may continue to present the opportunity for considering a shift in the disposition and employment of our forces Coalition forces could be re-tasked to better ensure the territorial defense of the state by increasingly concentrating on the eastern and western borders and the active defense of the critical infrastructures essential to Iraq.

In the spring of , Senators Nelson, Susan Collins of Maine , and John Warner of Virginia authored a list of measures, or "benchmarks", that were included in the Iraq Supplemental bill. These benchmarks allowed for progress to be measured in certain areas such as recognition of minority groups, strengthening of internal security forces, and equal distribution of oil revenue.

President George W. Bush and General David Petraeus were required to report on the advancement of these "benchmarks". Nelson and Collins also introduced legislation on July 11, , that would transition U. The legislation called for turning over internal security efforts to Iraqi forces after which the U. Nelson was the lead Democratic senator among the " Gang of 14 ," a bloc of 14 senators who, on May 23, , forged a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster , thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called " nuclear option ".

In an op-ed column, Nelson wrote: "The president's nominees, especially to the Supreme Court, deserve an up-or-down vote, even if the nominee isn't popular with the special-interest groups in Washington. Kagan, and her lack of a judicial record makes it difficult for me to discount the concerns raised by Nebraskans, or to reach a level of comfort that these concerns are unfounded.

Therefore, I will not vote to confirm Ms. Kagan's nomination" [ 66 ] [ 67 ]. In , Nelson proposed and supported legislation to prevent Nebraska from recognizing same-sex marriages formed in other states. This was his response to a court case in Hawaii that Nelson feared would legalize gay marriage. Nelson supported Initiative , an amendment to the Nebraska constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage and domestic partnership.

In October , Americans for Tax Reform stated that Nelson was the only Democratic senator who had signed its Taxpayer Protection Pledge , [ 72 ] and launched an advocacy campaign to urge him to oppose the health care reform proposals in Congress, which, they asserted, contained "billions of dollars in income tax hikes. In July , Nelson, with 18 other senators, [ 74 ] cosponsored a bill that would allow states to collect sales taxes on interstate sales, including catalogue and Internet sales.

Nelson's votes in the Senate often placed him at odds with the leadership of his party. Mary Landrieu was the only other Democrat to the right of any Republicans she placed to the right of Chafee. Nelson was one of only two Democratic senators to vote against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of He voted with Republicans on bankruptcy reform, environmental protection, class action lawsuits, and trade.

In he was one of only three Democratic senators to vote to invoke cloture on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment ; in he was one of only two Democratic senators to vote that way. But he consistently voted against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also opposed Bush's plan to send 21, more troops to Iraq. On April 26, , Nelson was one of two Democratic senators in attendance to vote against the motion to move a financial regulations bill forward, siding with Senate Republicans.

The other was Harry Reid , who voted against his own proposed bill for procedural reasons. In January , Nelson was named chief executive officer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners , [ 86 ] an organization of state insurance regulatory agencies for the United States and several of its territories. The body establishes standards and coordinates regulatory oversight for the state agencies.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikinews Wikisource Wikidata item. For other people named Ben Nelson, see Ben Nelson disambiguation. January 5, - January 7, January 5, - January 5, This searchable database identifies former governors by state and dates of service.

The governors' biographies available on the NGA website provide summary biographical information only and are edited infrequently. Please see our privacy policy for more information. About E. Source Hastings Tribune. His first run for office was in , when he narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Governor Kay A. He was re-elected by a landslide in He ran for an open U.

Senate seat in , losing in an upset to Republican Chuck Hagel. He was elected to Nebraska's other Senate seat in in and was re-elected in He did not run for a third term in and left the Senate in Nelson was one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, frequently voting against his party.