Rep. Finstad reflects on first full week in office

(ABC 6 News) – Newly elected 1st Congressional District Representative Brad Finstad was in Rochester Tuesday to talk with voters and support law enforcement during the last Safe City Nights.

The new Congressman said the relationships officers have with their community at the city, state, and national level are incredibly important.

"So much of what we do is relationship based and I think we in this country have a breakdown of relationships, and that’s with law enforcement, that’s with government, that’s politicians, that’s up and down the line. So, for me to be apart of event like this and hopefully bringing people together, just to have conversations is the only way I know how to do it and I know that’s the way southern Minnesota knows how to fix things," said Rep. Finstad.

Rep. Finstad is back in Minnesota for now because Congress is in recess, but before they dismissed he had a chance to vote on the Inflation Reduction Act. While he voted no, it did pass and was signed into law by President Biden

"You know, I think it was misguided a little bit in the title of the bill. There was a lot of climate change, lot of green new deal type language in it, on top of just adding to the over all national debt. So, for me it just didn’t feel like it hit the nail on the head when it comes inflation reduction. It didn’t really address gas prices, and food prices, and some of those things that families have been telling me over the last months that they really want us to work on," said Rep. Finstad.

He’ll return to Washington D.C. the week of September 13th, until then he said he’s taking the time to visit more communities in his district and talk with voters, so he can bring back their concerns to Capitol Hill.

While Rep. Finstad is back in Minnesota he’s also campaigning to keep the CD1 seat after the General Election vote in November.