Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said the current legislation was not “nimble” enough. | Getty Sasse: House health care bill will not pass in its current form

Despite being heckled and harangued over health care, Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse was muted during an early morning town hall on Friday in his criticisms over his party’s efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

“I think the House bill currently being debated will not pass in its current form,” Sasse said in a response to a questioner who was armed with the Congressional Budget Office’s score of Speaker Paul Ryan’s proposal.


A former college president, Sasse appeared much more comfortable embracing his inner health care wonk at a suburban Omaha high school than making the type of pointed criticisms leveled by some of his colleagues like Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has called the House’s proposal “Obamacare-lite.”

In particular, Sasse said the current legislation was not “nimble” enough to address a questioner's concerns about Medicaid and ensuring that elderly Nebraskans could stay in their homes.

The mandatory spending entitlement programs were an area Sasse repeatedly returned to when discussing health care, saying Medicaid is a “really poor program” and that Americans who rely on it deserve a better option.

“I think we need to have a gradual transition, when you’re not an all in Medicaid or all not out of Medicaid,” Sasse said.

While Nebraska is sometimes regarded as a conservative state, Omaha adds a sprinkle of purple. Former President Barack Obama carried the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District in 2008 and even after gerrymandering, former state Sen. Brad Ashford ousted longtime Republican Rep. Lee Terry in 2014. Hillary Clinton’s campaign viewed the district, and its one Electoral College vote, as a competitive contest and sent the former secretary of state there for one of her first stops after the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Trump and Pence ended up carrying the 2nd District by just over 6,500 votes.

Rising to fame during the presidential campaign with his viral twitter critiques of President Donald Trump, Sasse joined a number of conservatives in asking Trump to step aside once the Access Hollywood tape was leaked. Although, not all Nebraska Republicans were fond of his "#NeverTrump" status.

By far the senator’s most popular answers, were when he returned to his critiques of Trump, in particular pushing for the president to release his tax returns.

“Not to be accused of pandering, but I’ve said for a year and a half that the president should release his taxes,” Sasse said adding that he strongly agrees the contents of Trump’s returns are in the public interest. “Is your proposal that I should go to his home and pull him out of his filing cabinet?”