2014 NE Senate debate: on Government Reform

Shane Osborn: Photo ID for voting

Osborn: Disagree

Ben Sasse: Reduce level of influence of lobbyists with both parties

Sasse said he doesn't like the level of influence that lobbyists hold in Washington with both parties. "Many Republicans are complicit in that," he said. The candidates will face off in the Nov. 4 general election

Shane Osborn: Cut 60 redundant federal agencies and save $60B

"There's over 60 redundant agencies that have already been identified by the government accountability office, there's over $60 billion in savings right there. There's obviously entities that are too large, and then we have to have good serious debate on what the government serious debate about what the government should be doing in our lives and they shouldn't," said Osborn.

Ben Sasse: AdWatch: Campaign film "The Outsider", after years in DC

Sasse's campaign website explains: "It's time to cure the ineffectiveness and dysfunction of both parties in Washington, and leave the lobbyists and influence peddlers back east. Congress has forgotten conservative values, like how to live within a budget. They need a reminder. That's the point of our first film: we must choose the strongest, most conservative Nebraska voice to send to Washington this November."

Sasse may be an outsider, when compared to lawmakers who have served years in D.C. But he's worked in Washington as well, working as an Assistant Secretary of HHS & as a chief of staff in the Justice Department.

Ben Sasse: Permanent bureaucracy should not write big legislation

In his tour of western Nebraska he came to realize that people really care about the work ethic. "The most commonly talked about subject isn't really a political issue, it's the work ethic. People realize that the greatness of America is about our identity as a people prior to government," Sasse said.

Ben Sasse: Optimistic about America but pessimistic about Washington

President Obama, Sasse said, looks at the country's problems through lenses that tell him the only way for a fix is through government. He acknowledged that Americans need the federal government for such services as the military, to protect the country from enemies foreign and domestic and to create the framework for liberty. "But we in our communities are responsible to build our future," he said.

He believes the saddest moment in recent politics is when President Obama gave his "You didn't build that" speech. "You don't go to places like Beatrice and say you didn't build that," he said. Nebraskans have built schools, farms and more in their communities, and not because of a federal mandate, he said.