It’s been very humbling even to be a part of the process and I’m really looking forward to working on a bipartisan level with a lot of different members so I’m just getting used to a lot of fresh faces, didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the office selection, that came on in a fast fury all at the end but now that’s done too. It’s been a great orientation. I’m just happy to be a part of the process and I’m going to work hard for all of my constituents.

What we’ve been up to this week is the whole indoctrination process. I have some experience over in the senate side with setting up a congressional office, but it’s different on the house side. It’s reassuring, we had two members in the last freshman class talk to us on Tuesday, kind of a lessons-learned from their first two years. One of the things that was reassuring is they said you have plenty of time, you don’t have to get everything done by January 20th, just go at your own pace.

We got our first room choice here with number 20, kind of gamed the system as best we could. I miss the kids, and I’m looking forward to going home to some warmer weather, but it’s been a good week. I’m looking forward to representing the 22nd district of Texas, my hometown.

Get ready for corporate America’s favorite game: blame the victim. As pundits address the various reasons for the American auto industry’s problems a frequent target won’t be bloated CEO salaries, a lack of executive accountability or a flawed business plan. The target will be the men and women who go to work every day doing the best job they can.

Just last week, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman gratuitously blamed the United Auto Workers union for the auto industry’s current state three times in his column without a hint of evidence behind his allegations. As the bailout debate continues, there will be many more examples to come.

This blame the victim concept is inaccurate and goes against the basic foundation of the American Dream. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to take this opportunity to wish readers of The Hill Blog a happy Thanksgiving. The holidays are a time for all of us to come together not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans, to give thanks for the liberties we enjoy every day. As we gather to celebrate with friends and family, let us be especially thankful for the men and women of our armed services who may be spending the holidays far from their loved ones. It is only by their selfless service that we may enjoy all the blessings of our great nation.

Here’s wishing you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Orientation was really helpful. We got the tools we need to be up and running at our swearing-in in January and I’m ready to get to work on the pressing issues that face our country.

The economy is first and at the forefront in people’s minds. We will see whether there is anything done in the automobile industry before we get here or not. The banking industry–the collapse of the stock market–is a pressing issue. Of course, a lot of my background is in education issues, studying the federal framework for education policy, moving affordable healthcare forward, and protecting our environment.

Congress drove the Big Three CEOs out of Washington, D.C. last week, ordering them not to return with their tin cups until they could guarantee their companies would be viable after a $25 billion bailout.

Just days later, Citigroup, a bank that had already received a $25 billion bailout in October, held its hands out for more. Within 48 hours, federal officials approved giving the bank another $20 billion and providing backing for $306 billion in its risky loans and securities. Even though Citigroup was failing just weeks after getting its first government bailout, Congress didn’t subject its CEO to the public lecturing and demands for business plans that it did the Big Three.

The message here could not be more clear: Washington will bailout out those who shower before work but not those who shower afterwards. Read the rest of this entry »

President-elect Barack Obama is quickly paying his debts to the pro-abortion lobby that helped get him elected.

On Nov. 22 Sen. Obama appointed Ellen Moran as the new White House Communications Director. Moran is the current executive director of EMILY’s List, the PAC dedicated to getting pro-abortion women elected to political office.

Clearly, the American people have picked an extremist president who will do all in his power to advance the abortion lobby’s agenda.
Read the rest of this entry »

We have to re-examine our trade policies. Michigan has been especially hard hit by trade policy that doesn’t like to balance trade. Clearly, we have got to address the automotive crisis right now. There are three million jobs nationally that are directly related to the auto industry and a large concentration of those are in Michigan.

A couple of other things that I am particularly passionate about– that our new president is as well– is creating green collar jobs. I think we’ve got incredible potential in Michigan and around the country to create millions of jobs in clean and renewable energy. And then, I think something that relates to the economic challenges that we experience in Michigan is healthcare. And I’m not quite sure how we’re going to start on that– whether it’s the children’s health insurance program, SCHIP or whether we tackle it in a much broader way, but I think we’ve got to help solve our healthcare crisis in this country.

Obviously, we’re going to have to deal with the budget, what kind of fiscal policy we’re going to have, the bailout–things like that. But for me personally, what I campaigned on is energy independence. Obviously, we have a lot of veterans in our district so we need to improve veterans benefits care and also, I taught at West Point, so I’m trying to get on armed services and try to do a lot with regards to returning veterans–especially those with severe brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder. A lot of it depends on which committee I get, which I don’t know yet. But those will be the top priorities for me.

First and foremost, I hail from Ohio and Ohio has suffered disproportionate to the rest of the country with economic job loss. In fact, in the last eight years we have had 180,000 job losses. That means that every day that George Bush has been in office, 61 pinks slips have been handed out to families, so we’ve got to put our state on track and put those people back to work.

Of course this issue that we’re dealing with with the Big Three automobile dealers is extremely important to me, because 25 percent of our state’s economy is based on how well or how poorly the automotive industry does, as is getting our people back to work, bringing our troops home from Iraq safely and honorably, and making sure that Ohio citizens have access to affordable healthcare.