United States Senator, Nebraska
Ben Sasse is a United States Senator, representing the great state of Nebraska.
He was elected in a 2014 landslide, winning each of Nebraska's 93 counties, and securing the second-largest margin for a new senator in the history of the state. Living off of a rickety old campaign bus, he and his family campaigned tirelessly on a common-sense platform of restoring the Constitution to its rightful place and encouraging a more constructive politics where every public official works to make the American Dream achievable for every family. He believes in term limits and a humbler Washington, where the federal government does fewer things, but the more important things, more urgently, more transparently, and with less partisan screaming. Healthy lives are lived primarily in the private sector, and the vast majority of good policy is created at the state and local level -- and Washington should get better at talking honestly about these essential American realities.
A fifth-generation Nebraskan, Ben grew up walking beans and detasseling corn, experiences that taught him the value of hard work. A graduate of Fremont High School, he was recruited to wrestle at Harvard and then earned a PhD in American history at Yale. Ben comes to the Senate having spent the last five years as a college president. When he was recruited to take over the failing Midland University, Ben was just 37 years old, making him one of the youngest college presidents in the nation. The 130-year-old Lutheran college was on the verge of bankruptcy when he arrived, but became one of the fastest-growing higher education institutions in the country by the time of his departure.
Most of his career has been spent guiding companies and institutions through times of crisis with straight talk about the core issues. He has worked with the Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey and Company, as well as private equity firms and not-for-profit organizations, to tackle failing strategies across a broad array of sectors and nations.
Ben believes that we have a moral obligation to pass along a country as great and free and opportunity-filled to the next generation as we were blessed to inherit from our grandparents. This will require a more serious Congress, committed to reforming entitlements, telling the truth about fake federal budgets, modernizing national security for the age of global terror networks, and helping the next generation recover a sense of optimism about the American Dream for everyone of every race in every neighborhood.
Senior Fellow in Economic Policy, Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity, The Heritage Foundation
David R. Burton focuses on tax matters, securities law, entrepreneurship, financial privacy and regulatory and administrative law issues as The Heritage Foundation’s senior fellow in economic policy.
Mr. Burton was general counsel at the National Small Business Association for two years before joining Heritage’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies in 2013. He previously was chief financial officer and general counsel of the start-up Alliance for Retirement Prosperity, a conservative alternative to AARP.
For 15 years, Mr. Burton was a partner in the Argus Group, a Virginia-based law, public policy and government relations firm. His career in financial and tax matters also includes the posts of vice president for finance and general counsel of New England Machinery, a multinational manufacturer of packaging equipment and testing instruments, and manager of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tax Policy Center.
Mr. Burton received a juris doctor degree from the University Of Maryland School Of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Born at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary’s County, Md., Mr. Burton grew up in Baltimore. He and his wife, Nancy, currently reside in Mason Neck, Va.
AEI Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Clay R. Fuller is a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on authoritarian survival, corruption, and the means through which dictators, terrorists, and criminals use free markets to restrict freedom, sow discord, and legitimize their actions. He also collects data on the use of special economic zones and sovereign wealth funds in nondemocratic countries.
Previously, Dr. Fuller taught international relations, American government, and modern dictatorships, among other courses, at the University of South Carolina, Western Carolina University, Midlands Technical College, and Texas State University.
Dr. Fuller has been published in peer-review journals. He is currently working on a book titled “The Economic Foundations of Authoritarian Rule.” His forthcoming studies include “The Who and the How of Authoritarian Rule” and “The Rise of Authoritarian Liberalism.”
Dr. Fuller has four degrees in political science: a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of South Carolina, another M.A. from Texas State University, and a B.A. from West Virginia State University.
Senior Fellow in Economic Policy, Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, Institute for Economic Freedom and Opportunity, The Heritage Foundation
David R. Burton focuses on tax matters, securities law, entrepreneurship, financial privacy and regulatory and administrative law issues as The Heritage Foundation’s senior fellow in economic policy.
Mr. Burton was general counsel at the National Small Business Association for two years before joining Heritage’s Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies in 2013. He previously was chief financial officer and general counsel of the start-up Alliance for Retirement Prosperity, a conservative alternative to AARP.
For 15 years, Mr. Burton was a partner in the Argus Group, a Virginia-based law, public policy and government relations firm. His career in financial and tax matters also includes the posts of vice president for finance and general counsel of New England Machinery, a multinational manufacturer of packaging equipment and testing instruments, and manager of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tax Policy Center.
Mr. Burton received a juris doctor degree from the University Of Maryland School Of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.
Born at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary’s County, Md., Mr. Burton grew up in Baltimore. He and his wife, Nancy, currently reside in Mason Neck, Va.
AEI Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Clay R. Fuller is a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on authoritarian survival, corruption, and the means through which dictators, terrorists, and criminals use free markets to restrict freedom, sow discord, and legitimize their actions. He also collects data on the use of special economic zones and sovereign wealth funds in nondemocratic countries.
Previously, Dr. Fuller taught international relations, American government, and modern dictatorships, among other courses, at the University of South Carolina, Western Carolina University, Midlands Technical College, and Texas State University.
Dr. Fuller has been published in peer-review journals. He is currently working on a book titled “The Economic Foundations of Authoritarian Rule.” His forthcoming studies include “The Who and the How of Authoritarian Rule” and “The Rise of Authoritarian Liberalism.”
Dr. Fuller has four degrees in political science: a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of South Carolina, another M.A. from Texas State University, and a B.A. from West Virginia State University.
Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute
Christopher DeMuth is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute. He was president of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) from 1986 to 2008 and was the D.C. Searle Senior Fellow at AEI from 2008 to 2011.
Mr. DeMuth was raised in Kenilworth, Illinois, and attended the Lawrenceville School (1964), Harvard College (A.B. 1968), and the University of Chicago Law School (J.D. 1973). He served as staff assistant to President Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1970, working first for Daniel P. Moynihan (then assistant to the President for Urban Affairs) on urban policy matters and then as chairman of the White House Task Force on Environmental Policy. Following law school, he practiced regulatory, antitrust, and general corporate law with Sidley & Austin in Chicago (1973-1976) and was associate general counsel of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in Philadelphia (1976-1977).
From 1977 to 1981, Mr. DeMuth was lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and director of the Harvard Faculty Project on Regulation. There he taught courses on law, economics, and regulatory policy and conducted and sponsored research on health, safety, environmental, and economic regulation.
Returning to Washington in 1981, Mr. DeMuth served as administrator for information and regulatory affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and as executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief during President Ronald Reagan’s first term of office. From 1984 to 1986, he was managing director of Lexecon Inc., a law-and-economics consulting firm; in 1986, he was also publisher and editor-in-chief of Regulation magazine. He was elected president of the American Enterprise Institute in December 1986.
Many of Mr. DeMuth’s articles, lectures, and occasional talks are posted on his website (https://www.ccdemuth.com).
Senior Counsel, Committee on Oversight and Accountability, U.S. House of Representatives
Daniel Flores is a Senior Counsel on the Republican staff of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his current position, he served in the House as Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law. Before coming to the House, he served as an Acting Associate Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in other roles in EPA's Office of General Counsel, as a Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C. He serves as a House liaison to the Administrative Conference of the United States and has served on the Council of the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice
Senior Fellow, Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University
Matt Glassman, Ph.D., joined the Government Affairs Institute as a Senior Fellow in 2017. He has taught courses on and off the Hill on American government, congressional process, congressional-presidential relations, and congressional leadership.
Prior to joining GAI, Matt worked on the Hill at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for ten years. His portfolio included congressional operations, separation of powers, appropriations, judicial administration, agency design, and congressional history. He was detailed to the House Committee on Appropriations as professional staff for the Legislative Branch Subcommittee in FY2010 and FY2011.
Education: PhD, Yale University; MA and M.Phil., Yale University; BA, Hamilton College
Senior Fellow, R Street Institute
James Wallner is a senior fellow of the R Street Institute and member of R Street’s Governance Project and Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group teams. He researches and writes about Congress, especially the Senate; the separation of powers; legislative procedure; and the federal policy process.
James joined R Street in July 2017 from the Heritage Foundation, where he was group vice president for research. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the politics department and the Congressional and Presidential Studies Program at the Catholic University of America as well as in the Department of Government at American University. Additionally, James is a Fellow at American University’s Center of Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Earlier in his career, he was executive director of the Senate Steering Committee during the chairmanships of Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. He also has served as legislative director to Toomey and to former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
He is the author of two books, The Death of Deliberation: Partisanship and Polarization in the United States Senate, published in 2013 and On Parliamentary War: Partisan Conflict and Procedural Change in the United States Senate published in 2017.
James received both his doctoral and master’s degrees in politics from the Catholic University of America. He also holds a master’s in international and European politics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Georgia.
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