Sen. Deb Fischer is focused on a re-election campaign message of performance, accessibility and experience, and says she's open to debates with Democratic challenger Jane Raybould later this year.
During a wide-ranging interview in Lincoln, Nebraska's senior senator said she's reluctant to suggest a time frame for completion of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, but noted that she really is more centered on the results of a similar Senate Intelligence Committee probe.
"That's the investigation that I'm waiting to see," Fischer said.
As for the Mueller operation, which is under increasing fire from President Donald Trump, the senator said it is "difficult to make a judgment" as to when that investigation ought to come to a close.
"He needs to complete his investigation," she said.
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Fischer, who defeated Democratic nominee Bob Kerrey by 122,000 votes in winning her first Senate term in 2012 after serving two terms in the nonpartisan Legislature, is well-positioned for a re-election bid in a predominantly Republican state.
Her recent acquisition of a seat on the Senate Agriculture Committee has strengthened her political position.
And as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chairman of its subcommittee on strategic forces, Fischer already is engaged in high-profile national security issues, including modernization of U.S. nuclear forces, while positioned to keep an eye on the future of Offutt Air Force Base at Bellevue.
"Improvement in military readiness is the No. 1 priority in assuring a secure homeland," she said.
During her 2012 Senate race, Fischer piled up 72,000 miles in traveling the state from June 28, 2011, to Nov. 6, 2012, after jumping into a Republican primary field in which she clearly was an early underdog without immediate statewide name recognition.
This time it will be different: "Nebraskans know who I am. Nebraskans want to shake your hand and look you in the eye. I will be traveling the state."
Raybould already has taken a few shots at Fischer, and the senator is not reluctant to return the fire: "To be blunt," the senator said, "she's avoided answering questions about issues. She supports abortion on demand. She's not supportive of Second Amendment rights."
In the Senate, where Fischer is a member of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's leadership team, she was determined to "hit the ground running, roll up my sleeves and get some work done."
Recent legislative priorities have included veterans benefits, removal of some restrictions on small banks and efforts to help people deal with health issues, including a "right-to-try bill" that gives terminally ill people access to experimental drugs.
On the Agriculture Committee, she said, she is helping "put the final touches" on the new farm bill. Her priorities include protection of a farm safety net, a strong crop insurance program and "regulatory relief."
Also on her legislative agenda now is a bill that would give the city of Omaha more flexibility in dealing with the financial burden of a federally mandated $2 billion sewer separation project.
Nebraskans have benefited from the massive tax-cut legislation recently approved by the Republican majority in Congress, Fischer said.
"Every business I talk to is talking about investments now," she said. "That will create more jobs and lower tax rates will create more take-home pay."
Fischer said she is on alert and concerned about U.S. trade policy and its potential impact on U.S. agricultural exports, but she says she has found White House officials, including the president, to be "extremely accessible" in listening to her concerns and those expressed by other senators from farm states.
"I would like to see NAFTA (renegotiations) completed," she said.
Fischer spoke before the president's announcement on Thursday that he is imposing new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico, NAFTA's trade partners with the United States, as well as on the European Union. That, in turn, triggered immediate retaliatory trade restrictions, some of which will impact U.S. agriculture.
On other issues, Fischer said she supports enhanced border security and will continue to work for infrastructure improvements, including rural broadband deployment that will help spur economic development throughout Nebraska.
What lies ahead, she said, is "a positive campaign that will talk about issues that are important to Nebraskans."