Dan Osborn and Sen. Pete Ricketts talk immigration reform, affordable housing ahead of midterms

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The midterm election is less than 10 months away, and two Senate candidates are hoping to sway voters.

Channel 8 sat down with Sen. Pete Ricketts and his Independent challenger, Dan Osborn, on Tuesday.

One of the most immediate issues on Capitol Hill is the partial government shutdown.

The Department of Homeland Security faces a funding lapse as Democrats demand changes to immigration enforcement.

Ricketts said he’s open to negotiations when it comes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Funding for ICE was already secured through the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, meaning those agents are still being paid during the shutdown.

Ricketts said this situation is instead hurting other DHS agencies, including TSA and FEMA.

“This disruption and constant shutdowns that the democrats keep doing are really bad for running the government,” Ricketts said. “It ends up being more expensive to do that.”

Osborn agrees that the shutdown needs to end, but he also said there needs to be changes to the U.S. immigration system.

“There needs to be accountability for the agents; there needs to be accountability all the way up to Kristi Noem,” Osborn said. “We need a path to citizenship. We need to figure out this immigration policy because we haven’t had any meaningful, humane immigration reform since I’ve been alive.”

Both candidates said the main concern they hear from Nebraskans is the economy and affordability.

“Building costs and building materials are through the roof right now,” Osborn said. “We need a better tariff policy first of all. I don’t think blanket tariffs are the way to go.”

He said he would also work to eliminate large corporations that monopolize markets and drive up costs.

On the other hand, Ricketts said he’s introduced an amendment to remove barriers for rural housing. He also said the economy is slowly improving.

“Grocery prices have been sticking,” he said. “We have seen, for example, gas prices have come down about $2 a gallon. We’ve seen rent prices start to come down. We just got a good inflation report.”

Ricketts said the key is to keep government spending under control.

Nebraskans are paying more at the grocery store for beef as the U.S. cattle herd takes a hit.

In an effort to address rising prices, Ricketts endorsed a deal with Argentina.

Beef imports from Argentina will greatly increase under the deal.

Ricketts said this will give ranchers stability, allowing them to build up their cattle herds.

“The long-term solution here is to be able to expand the size of the herds to be able to bring down prices for consumers,” he said.

But Osborn said he’s talked to Nebraska ranchers who are not in favor of this deal.

“The people who are going to benefit from this are the corporations and the meat packers,” he said. “It’s just frustrating that our elected officials seem to be more interested in helping the corporate elite than they do the people on the ground doing the work.”

Frustration is growing among Nebraskans as voter-approved medical marijuana faces setbacks and hurdles.

Ricketts said he respects the will of the voters, but he has concerns.

“At the federal level, it’s still illegal, so there’s always going to be this tension there with regard to the state law and the federal law,” he said.

Osborn argues that the way this situation has been handled is wrong.

“States have the right to make their own laws,” he said. “Right now, it’s fighting the will of the people, and we’ve got to change that.”