Rep.-elect Ryan Mackenzie, R-Penn., says entering office is like a "whirlwind" as Republican leadership prepare the freshman class of lawmakers to hit the ground running in January.
Mackenzie, who ousted Democratic incumbent Rep. Susan Wild to gain his seat, told Fox News Digital in an interview that his experience from multiple terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has proven invaluable in these opening weeks.
Incoming House members of both parties – this cycle it's 57 new members – visit Washington barely a week after winning their elections for a freshman orientation that Mackenzie says makes it seem "just like it's any other job."
"You go through ethics training, HR training, cybersecurity training to make sure that you're gonna protect your information and the data that is so critical and sensitive for ourselves and our constituents and everybody else," Mackenzie said.
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Mackenzie said new lawmakers also have to get up to speed on legislation passing through Congress or legislation that soon will be, all while setting up and staffing their Capitol Hill offices.
"Some people have called it that you're building a small business when you're running a congressional staff and office networked across your district and in Washington, D.C., but you're building that in a very short period of time," he said.
Mackenzie also offered a look at the Republican game plan for when they take over Congress in January, saying the party is set to be far more effective than the opening months of the first Trump administration.
Republican lawmakers heard from both their congressional leadership and President-elect Trump about what the party's priorities will be come January.
"With the House, the Senate and the White House all lined up, we have a great opportunity, but it's still incredibly difficult to get things done," Mackenzie said, noting that lawmakers have to come to an agreement on the specific solutions to the campaign issues they ran on, namely lowering the cost of living and stemming the flow of illegal immigration.
"I feel very confident that we're going to hit the ground running in those first 30–100 days in Congress," he said. "It's not going to be like it was the first time when Donald Trump came into office and people were maybe shocked and didn't really have their act together. It's much different this time around."
Mackenzie went on to argue that handling the issues of cost of living and illegal immigration "go hand-in-hand in a lot of ways." He stated that mass illegal immigration drives up the cost of housing and health care. He nevertheless noted that lowering costs was consistently the top priority for voters in polls, followed closely by the border crisis.
"We need to make sure we're addressing these things in tandem," he said. "It's about how can we best get both of these things actually across the goal line and through a House, a Senate and signed into law by the president."
