With a new Congress and a new president taking office in January, what will be the priorities in Washington?

Congressman Tim Walberg tells us the budget will be an immediate issue.

“We’ll be looking at reining in spending to cut inflation right from the beginning, finding means by which we can cut out some of the fraud, waste, and abuse in parts of government, downsizing certain areas,” Walberg said. 

Walberg says Republicans will be able to accomplish plenty in the House, but it may be a little trickier in the Senate, where 60 votes are usually needed to do anything major. However, he says the next Congress will be productive.

“Using reconciliation language, which doesn’t give us everything we want, but gives the majority on the various items we need, including making permanent the Trump tax cuts of 2017 for small businesses and individuals, not just corporate entities. We’re intent on doing that.”

Walberg says securing the border by reinstating some former Trump policies will also be an immediate task to tackle.

As for Trump’s tariffs, Walberg is not expecting much pushback from Republicans in Congress. Walberg says as long as the tariffs are targeted in a way that forces Mexico, Canada, and China to behave, there probably won’t be much opposition. Besides, Walberg says Trump doesn’t need the support of Congress to impose tariffs.