Congressman Randy Hultgren was sworn in on Jan. 5 to represent the 14th District.

The Republican beat out incumbent Bill Foster for the position in the midterm election in November. The Northern Star recently talked with the new congressman about everything from his new role in Washington, D.C. to his stances on the health care bill and student financial aid.

The Northern Star will run segments of the complete interview throughout the week. The is the first part of a five part series.

Q: As a first-time congressman, what has it been like going to DC? Were you surprised by anything?

A: It’s a wonderful, what an amazing privilege to represent this district. I’m humbled every time I walk into the capitol, what a great privilege it is, what a great country we have, but also how significant the issues are that we’re facing right now.

A lot of people are hurting, a lot of people are out of jobs, a lot of people are afraid of their future and the future of their kids and so we’re going to have some very important decisions to make and hopefully we’ll make some progress on getting things back in shape in Washington, but also get people working back here in Illinois.

So it’s been a good month. I think as far as being surprised probably just how big everything is. One of my committees, the Transportation Committee, is the same exact size as the entire State Senate. So just getting use to the volume of how many members there are, issues are significant sufficient leading through legislation, getting prepared for committees and things, and just getting around to committee meetings, finding different rooms around the Capitol is a challenge, but it’s been good.

I think I’ve just been really surprised and impressed with how willing people are to help. Other members who have been there longer are willing to come along and make sure that [we know] where we’re heading to and what to do and answer questions for us. So overall it’s been very good.

Q: What changes do you think Congress will focus on that would be most visible in the 14th District?

A: I think the things that hopefully we’ll see this session and it’ll take some work to do it, but it’ll be steps to make Congress more accountable to the people who sent us there so really that recognition that we as representatives work for the people who sent us up to Washington DC.

We need to be listening to them, we need to be hearing what’s important to them and we’ll do that I think by looking for areas where we can cut wasteful spending where Congress has been spending money where maybe at one time it made sense, but doesn’t make sense any longer to keep spending money in those areas. I think even with the horrible tragedy in Arizona show a strong commitment by myself and other colleagues to be available and to be accessible and want to hear from the people we represent.

So I think that’s what people hopefully in the 14th will see is first of all my commitment to them, to be available to them, but also to on their behalf, really be listening to what’s important to them and being able to vote as they’d want me to vote, and certainly not in every case, there’s going to be individuals and just about anybody you talk to, where you find something you disagree on, but I think that’s okay too.

I’m realizing that with my colleagues out there on the Democratic side of the aisle that very good start of building relationships there, but also recognizing that we can disagree without being disagreeable. We can recognize that there’s different views on policy, but not make it personal.