Deb Fischer: “the people of Nebraska would never stand for that to happen in our State. As I said, we are very proud of our unicameral…”

“the people of Nebraska would never stand for that to happen in our State. As I said, we are very proud of our unicameral system and how we are able to work together. Of course, we know who is a Republican and who is a Democrat in the Nebraska legislature. But as I said, we are able to cross that aisle, which does not exist in Nebraska, by the way. We do not sit separate from each other. We are able to reach out and work together. We have this system that is so open and so transparent. We work with the Governor--or perhaps in Senator Johanns' case not work with the Governor--on the issues. But we are able to have that dialog with our chief executive. We are able to have that dialog with each other. We have a committee process where every bill that is introduced has a public hearing. Any person can walk into the hearing room and come forward and testify before a legislative committee in the State of Nebraska. Senators then have the opportunity to ask questions to be able to gain more information, not just from people who are invited to come and sit on a panel before a legislative hearing but from citizens who step forward and are willing to take that time away from their jobs, their families. Some may have to travel a great distance since we are a very big State in order to get to the capital to be at a hearing and express their views.…”