Robert Ezyk

Sen. Ben Sasse is living on borrowed time. The 54-year-old Nebraska Republican — famously one of the most bipartisan members of Congress — is battling Stage IV pancreatic cancer. But thanks to an experimental drug — the kind the current president’s administration cut research for — he’s bought himself a few extra months. Sasse is part of a clinical trial for daraxonrasib, which blocks the signal that makes cancer grow. In Sasse's case, his cancer has already "metastasized a number of places. So I've got lung, vascular, liver— liver is pretty far along,” he said on 60 Minutes. “I am on extended time already," he explained. ”I have much, much less pain than I had four months ago when I was diagnosed and I have a massive 76% reduction in tumor volume over the last four months." As he told Pelley, "It's weird to be in your early 50s and get a terminal diagnosis, and people all of a sudden act like you're 93 or 94 and you have a lot of wisdom. I don't know that I have a lot of wisdom, but I have a lot of things that I think we should be reflecting on together." Specifically, he mentioned the state of politics. "I think our national political dysfunction is an echo of larger problems," Sasse, who was one of seven from the Republican Party who voted to convict President Donald Trump over the January 6 riot, said. "We should make the Senate less of an institution that is built as a backdrop platform for people to get sound bites. That's not what the Senate is for. The Senate should be plotting and steady and boring and trustworthy." He continued, "We got a lot of people who serve in government who really do think the highest and greatest thing you can ever do is have the title senator or congressman. Bull---. The best thing you can do is be called dad or mom, lover, neighbor, friend." More Sasses, less MAGA ❤️ 📸: People