Getting Settled In | Video

Jessica Roose | 1/3/2013

They were elected nearly two months ago and today Kevin Cramer and Heidi Heitkamp were finally able to start the job they`ve been wanting to do. Members of the former Congress left their offices last night. So it wasn`t until this morning that the new members could get moved in.

Last week he was packing up his stuff and getting ready to leave his office at the Public Service Commission. Now, Kevin Cramer is moving into his new one in Washington, D.C.

"It feels good. Campaigns are such a sort of mad rush. But as much as a rush as the campaigns are, now has been twice as crazy and sort of unsettling. So now to be able to settle in, have a place to land, have a place to work," he said.

He`s going to have to get to work right away if he wants to help solve some of the problems facing the country. He says his priorities are to pass a Farm Bill and address the growing deficit. "We can`t do it without the other side. But we also realize the other side can`t do it without us. So it forces some compromise and some collaboration and I`m ready to do that. But at the same time hold very firm to my principles of cutting the budget and finding spending efficiencies and fixing this thing long term for our children and grandchildren. Not just for the next election."

He`s not the only one settling into a new office in D.C., Democrat Heidi Heitkamp was also sworn in today. Like Cramer, she was able to move into her office this morning.

"I`m really looking forward to the next six years and serving the people of the state of North Dakota and moving the country forward," she said.

She agrees that the top issues facing this 113th Congress are the fiscal house and lack of a Farm Bill. "The sooner that we can get them resolved the more we can move on to building the American economy and looking at kind of how were going to develop future opportunity for our children and for this country. So everyone in this body should feel pressure to get this job done."

In their first order of business, the new members of the House of Representatives decided to reelect Rep. John Boehner as Speaker of the House.

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