Economy

Defeating COVID-19 includes reconnecting unemployed Americans. Before the pandemic, America's economy was thriving. Workers at the bottom of the income ladder were seeing the largest wage gains in recent history. Two principle achievements from the last 25 years - the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the 1996 Welfare Reform Act - ensured Americans benefitted from hard work.

Nebraska is a biofuels powerhouse - the second and third largest producer of ethanol and corn, respectively, in the country. With 25 active ethanol plants and a capacity of more than 2.5 billion gallons, the importance of biofuels to our state economy cannot be understated. Biodiesel production in Nebraska has seen exponential growth as well.

Getting Americans back to work has been one of the primary challenges facing our nation since the COVID-19 pandemic began nearly one year ago. While the employment situation varies widely from state to state, ensuring every unemployed American can reconnect with work must be a top priority.

Small businesses are staples of our communities and the backbone of rural America. However, small businesses have also taken the hardest hit from COVID's impact and we must continue doing all we can to help them as we continue to fight this disease.

In 2016, the last year of the Obama administration, 3,853 federal regulations were issued. While some regulations, such as those explaining how the executive branch will implement new laws or setting how much Medicare pays medical providers each year, are necessary, many merely pile new bureaucracy onto old in an effort to micromanage our nation from Washington.

In a typical year, the six months from the start of spring to the start of fall fly by: we celebrate summer breaks, family vacations, weddings, and graduations; crops are planted and grown, and harvest begins. These last six months could not have felt more different. Almost every portion of our lives was somehow impacted by the coronavirus and our efforts to fight it.