By Mark Harper 

Posted Jan 2, 2019 at 2:57 PMUpdated Jan 2, 2019 at 2:57 PM
  
When Michael Waltz raises his right hand and takes the oath of office as Florida’s 6th District congressman Thursday, he enters into Day 13 of a standoff.
The partial federal government shutdown pits President Trump against Democratic leaders assuming power in the 116th Congress. Both the House and Senate late last year approved a stopgap spending bill that Trump refused to sign, as he seeks more money for a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico.
Waltz, a Republican, will be in the minority, but he fully intends to work toward one of his campaign planks, finding solutions supported by both sides.
“On the shutdown, we’re going to have to reach a bipartisan agreement,” Waltz said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I think there’s a compromise to be had there.”
Waltz said he’s looking forward to seeing what proposals Democrats roll out, while also buttressing Trump’s position.
“I appreciate and support the president’s view. We have to have border security. ... I don’t think we can truly reform the legal side of immigration until we reform the border security,” Waltz said.
Trump has offered varying descriptions of what he wants to see but has always returned to the wall he promised in his campaign.
Reacting to an interview given by outgoing Chief of Staff John Kelly, the president tweeted this week: “An all concrete Wall was NEVER ABANDONED, as has been reported by the media. Some areas will be all concrete but the experts at Border Patrol prefer a Wall that is see through (thereby making it possible to see what is happening on both sides). Makes sense to me!”
Waltz said a wall alone won’t do the job, noting instances where smugglers have tunneled from one country to the other, creating a pipeline of people and drugs. He prefers “a holistic system including barriers,” and said the security piece needs to be in place before other aspects of immigration reform can be tackled.
“Even if we came to an agreement on the legal side today, whether that’s visas, or a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients, we’re going to be in the same place if we don’t secure the border,” he said.
Waltz also said he intends to ask the House clerk to withhold his congressional pay as long as the shutdown continues.
A busy time
Since his election Nov. 6 over Democrat Nancy Soderberg, Waltz — a St. Augustine Beach resident — made the rounds in his district, which covers all of Volusia and Flagler counties, plus portions of St. Johns and Lake.
He’s hired as district director retired Army Brig. Gen. Ernest Audino, a Port Orange resident, and interviewed for staff both locally and in Washington, where because of the national blue wave, Democrats gained 39 House seats, making lots of Republican staff members free agents.

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“Fortunately for me, unfortunately for the GOP, there’s a lot of staff talent out there,” Waltz said. “It’s a good problem for me to have.”
The congressman-elect said he’s met with many of the Republicans who helped him get elected as well well as some stakeholders such as Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce executives to talk about the possibility of using economic opportunity zones to attract new investment. He met with a Stetson University water expert, media figures and local and county government officials including DeLand Mayor Bob Apgar and Volusia County Council Vice-Chair Deb Denys.
Back home, Waltz has already been targeted by a group of his election opponent’s supporters. The Indivisible group is planning a rally at his Port Orange office in support of a democracy reform package House Democrats are expected to introduce. These include changes to voting access, money in politics and anti-corruption measures, according to Becky Berman, a spokeswoman.
In Washington, Waltz has attended numerous House orientation events and training sessions and spent part of New Year’s Eve visiting wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center with Ryan McCarthy, undersecretary of the Army.
He went on Fox News to talk about a murder charge filed against a Green Beret, Maj. Matthew Golsteyn, for the 2010 death of an Afghanistan man. Waltz, a who achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army, spoke with Fox, the New York Times and PBS about what former military members bring to Congress.
And he delicately took issue with Trump’s announcement he was ordering a full and rapid withdrawal of 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria. “I’ve agreed with almost all of the President’s foreign policy decisions, but not this one,” Waltz wrote on Facebook on Dec. 21. “We can fight these wars in places like Kabul or places like Kansas City. We fight them over there so they don’t follow us home.”
Realistic goals
Waltz said he’s focused on providing district services, getting constituents help.
One of his interests, commercial space opportunities for southeast Volusia County, led him to bring together the National Space Foundation and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and he’s also made contact with Burns Science and Technology Charter School in Edgewater.
He’s also studying transportation issues with an eye toward a reauthorization bill that’s due in 2020.
For his talk of bipartisanship, Waltz didn’t exclude the reality for a Republican freshman into a House controlled by Democrats. 
“We’re stepping into the minority. Legislating from the minority is incredibly difficult,” he said, adding he expects likely incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to keep a “tight grip” on floor activities.
He has requested to serve on committees he believes can act in a bipartisan way to set policy.
Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have begun making those committee assignments.
“I’ve put in for transportation, veterans affairs, armed services and science, space and technology,” Waltz said. “As a freshman, you get the last of the picks.”