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Rep. Tom Barrett shares perspective on bipartisanship, big issues during first few weeks in office

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in the Rayburn Room at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin
/
AP
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., right, poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in the Rayburn Room at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.

Mid-Michigan's Seventh District is being represented by a new congressman.

Republican Tom Barrett ran a campaign for the seat in 2022 and lost but came back in 2024 to defeat Democrat Curtis Hertel.

WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with him about his priorities representing mid-Michiganders and how he’s settling into the position.

Interview Highlights

On moving into his great-grandfather's former congressional office

I allowed my dad and my youngest son, who's three years old, my son is named after my great-grandfather, and allowed them to kind of come into the office first. And one kind of sad moment was when my three-year-old son ran through the whole office looking for his great-great-grandfather, who, of course, you know, has been deceased for a number of decades now, thinking that he was in this office and didn't realize that, of course, he had passed away a number of years ago.

On bipartisanship

We're willing to work with partners, regardless of political party or affiliation, toward achieving the objectives that we have. I think right now in the United States, something like 80% of people feel that the country is going in the wrong direction. Certainly, the country is not 80% of one party or the other or any political affiliation, so I think we have a lot of folks that are frustrated across the spectrum of political ideology. I think it means that we are tasked with working together where we can to find common solutions to problems that the country is facing.

On the cost of living and the American economy

The cost of living crisis that Americans are facing is one that was foremost in their decision in this last election just a couple of months ago. People spoke with a loud and clear voice about the frustrations that they had related to the cost of living. We have a very significant vote coming up around extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will make sure that our economy continues in the right direction. That's a big priority for all of us in the Republican conference to make sure that we're able to continue those, otherwise the economy would certainly falter quite substantially if we did nothing to act on that. We also need to unleash American energy. You know, we have a great abundance of clean natural gas and other fuels like that that we can put to work and put to use to make sure that we fuel our economy, so that we can have innovation. We can have economic growth. A lot of the demands of advanced computers and 3D printing and other innovations and artificial intelligence are going to require a great deal of energy to make sure that we can compete on those fronts, economically and otherwise through innovation.

Interview Transcript

Sophia Saliby: Mid-Michigan's Seventh District is being represented by a new congressman.

Republican Tom Barrett ran a campaign for the seat in 2022 and lost but came back in 2024 to defeat Democrat Curtis Hertel.

He joins me now to talk about his priorities representing mid-Michiganders and how he’s settling into the position. Thanks for being here.

Tom Barrett: Thank you for having me on.

Saliby: What have these first few weeks in office been like?

Barrett: They've been very fast moving, and it's been a lot of logistics, geographically, just moving around back and forth between Michigan, between my home, you know, where I live in Michigan, and then out here to Washington, D.C. and back.

But you know, it's been one that I'm certainly excited about the opportunity that we have and also very humbled by the trust that people have put me to be their voice here in Washington, D.C. I get to represent the constituents of the district where I live and where my wife and I are raising a family, and that's something that I'm proud to be able to have a role in.

Saliby: A big story toward the end of last year after the election was your campaign to get the congressional office used by your great-grandfather which you did end up getting. What was it like to finally move into that space this month?

Barrett: Yeah, it was exciting. And I'm actually joining you from my great-grandfather's former office as we do this, and something that I was really proud to be able to do and excited about. I was thankful that my freshman classmates allowed me the opportunity to select this office in our office lottery. It can be very, very competitive which office and which members select where and everything. There is a lottery that goes on in which the order to pick that takes place.

And then had a number of folks from my family here on the day that we moved in, on Swearing-In Day. And I allowed my dad and my youngest son, who's three years old, my son is named after my great-grandfather, and allowed them to kind of come into the office first. And one kind of sad moment was when my three-year-old son ran through the whole office looking for his great-great-grandfather, who, of course, you know, has been deceased for a number of decades now, thinking that he was in this office and didn't realize that, of course, he had passed away a number of years ago.

Saliby: But still a good moment.

Barrett: It was.

Saliby: Have you spoken to your predecessor now-U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, about serving in this position and representing mid-Michigan?

Barrett: Yes, we had a meeting after the election while I was here for my orientation here in Washington, D.C., for my orientation, and then actually we were on the same flight back from Michigan to Washington yesterday, so we chatted for a few moments at the airport as well.

She gave me a great kind of binder of things that, you know, were remaining, issues and just some of the constituent-related services that we're going to need to continue carrying forward and everything. So, I was very appreciative of that.

Saliby: Slotkin has often spoken about her commitment to bipartisanship. What does bipartisanship mean to you in this position?

Barrett: It means, I think, what most people would expect, which is that we're willing to work with partners, regardless of political party or affiliation, toward achieving the objectives that we have. I think right now in the United States, something like 80% of people feel that the country is going in the wrong direction. Certainly, the country is not 80% of one party or the other or any political affiliation, so I think we have a lot of folks that are frustrated across the spectrum of political ideology.

I think it means that we are tasked with working together where we can to find common solutions to problems that the country is facing. I had a good record of this when I was in the state legislature. I sponsored over three dozen bills that were signed into law, each of which had substantial bipartisan support. Some of them even passed unanimously. Some were signed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder, others by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

I'm looking forward to carrying that experience here to Washington to work with my colleagues across the aisle in ways that we can to try and fix problems the country is facing.

Saliby: This week, you opened your congressional office, and during that time, I think you spoke about three priorities when it comes to policy issues related to inflation and cost of living, border security as well as foreign conflict.

Could you maybe touch on each of those three and kind of what will it take for you to get the country in the right direction on those three issues?

Barrett: Certainly, the cost of living crisis that Americans are facing is one that was foremost in their decision in this last election just a couple of months ago. People spoke with a loud and clear voice about the frustrations that they had related to the cost of living. We have a very significant vote coming up around extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that will make sure that our economy continues in the right direction. That's a big priority for all of us in the Republican conference to make sure that we're able to continue those, otherwise the economy would certainly falter quite substantially if we did nothing to act on that.

We also need to unleash American energy. You know, we have a great abundance of clean natural gas and other fuels like that that we can put to work and put to use to make sure that we fuel our economy, so that we can have innovation. We can have economic growth. A lot of the demands of advanced computers and 3D printing and other innovations and artificial intelligence are going to require a great deal of energy to make sure that we can compete on those fronts, economically and otherwise through innovation. And I think those are things that we absolutely need to do on the economic side, but it also plays into national security in some of those areas as well.

From there, as it relates to foreign conflicts, certainly, we've seen hostile adversaries of the United States get more belligerent. We need to have peace through strength. We need strong leadership in that regard, to put our adversaries back in check. And I'm looking forward to working with the incoming administration to identify ways in which we can do that. That really is a big part of my background, serving in the United States Army as long as I did.

And then really securing our border is a clear and obvious threat to the United States that we've all witnessed, and we've all seen, the absolutely out of control, disastrous outcome of having an unsecured border has led to challenges the country is facing. The very first bill that we voted on in this Congress was the Laken Riley Act, which will have efforts to help make sure that we secure our border and deport people who are in our country illegally, who are committing crimes while they are in the country.

Saliby: Are there any bills or resolutions you're drafting that will be kind of your first step as a representative beyond voting?

Barrett: You know, we're working on a few ideas right now, so I don't want to announce things before they're fully ready to go, but we have had some discussions internally about ideas that we have to put into practice of some things that we can, you know, come and, as I said, express the will of the people that sent me here to Washington D.C. to work on their behalf.

Saliby: I've been speaking with Republican Representative Tom Barrett. Thank you for joining us.

Barrett: Thank you so much for having me.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Sophia Saliby is the local producer and host of All Things Considered, airing 4pm-7pm weekdays on 90.5 FM WKAR.
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