A few years ago I had the honor to speak with former Senator Ben Nelson.  He was promoting his book “The Death of the Senate.  My front row seat to the demise of the world’s greatest deliberative body.”

Ben Nelson was a moderate Democrat from a red state. These days you’ve got a better chance of seeing Bigfoot or a Unicorn than you have of seeing a moderate Democrat from a red state. Senator Nelson was a dying breed : a canary in a coal mine, if you will.

Recently the Senate put up a vote just for the sake of providing a campaign message for each side.  The vote had a valid point and while far from perfect, it would have been negotiated, voted on, and passed in a bipartisan manner in another place or time. We don’t live in those times anymore. 

I’m talking about a Senate bill to protect the right to in vitro fertilization or IVF.  The vote failed to get the necessary 60 votes as Republicans and Democrats voted down party lines. 

Our Republican Senators voted against protecting IVF. Yes, the right to life party voted against a plan to protect families who could not conceive naturally.  IVF which can be used to bring a bundle of joy to an infertile couple was voted down when Republicans said no.

Now this was not a perfect bill.  Indeed, it contained a clause allowing Medicaid to pay for IVF for poor families.  A legitimate argument can be made that if they can’t afford the cost of the procedure, they probably would have a tough time supporting another mouth or two to feed.  The argument could be made that it’s not the government’s place to pay for in vitro fertilization in the first place. Both of those arguments are more than valid but they were not made because that wasn’t the point of putting this legislation up for a vote.  The point was the Democrats wanted to put the Republicans on record for voting against IVF.  All are part of the abortion issue that will be a major point of contention this November. 

Pete Ricketts and Deb Fisher voted against protecting IVF.  A vote that Preston Love and Dan Osborn will probably use against them in the upcoming campaign. A vote that was just called to illustrate the Jackassery of the Senate.  Remember when former Senator Ben Sasse called the behavior of some of his fellow Senators “Jackassery?”

Ben Nelson saw it coming.  Ben Nelson was a victim of the partisanship.  Ben Nelson tried to work to allow better health care for uninsured people and the rest of his term he was a political dead man walking.

Throughout our history things have been bad, but with the possible exception of the Civil War, not as bad as they are now.  In the past, protecting IVF would have been able to pass in a mostly bipartisan manner with both sides touting they were pro-family.

We send our representatives to DC to solve problems, not to create campaign issues. 

I will say this : the IVF vote was truly bipartisan because it made both the Democrats and Republicans look bad.  Both sides acted like immature high schoolers afraid to break away from their cliques. 

Protecting IVF is a noble cause.  Helping those families unable to naturally conceive should be a no-brainer.  Somehow, this issue has been tossed into the abortion debate which makes no sense to me.  IVF is the polar opposite of abortion.

But why confuse a good emotional campaign issue with facts?  The Democrats will say that Republicans are against using science to help families conceive and the Republicans will say that Democrats are baby killers when the issue of family planning is much more complex than that. 

There was a time when the folks on Capitol Hill weren’t afraid to take on complex issues, but those days have gone by the wayside.  Working to solve complex issues doesn’t get people elected. Voting on trying to solve complex issues can give your opponents fodder to work against you come election day. 

Yes, the Senate used to be the world’s greatest deliberative body. It would be nice to get it back.  But I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.  Ben Nelson may have had a ring side seat to its demise but we all saw it coming from the cheap seats.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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