By Pat Donahue,

Special to the Herald

Now going into his sixth term in Congress, U.S. Rep Buddy Carter knows some of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks very well.

And Carter is encouraged by the picks the incoming president has made.

President-elect Trump tapped sitting House members Elise Stefanik and Mike Waltz for key roles, nominating Stefanik as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Waltz as national security advisor. He also has selected former House members Lee Zeldin to run the Environmental Protection Agency and Doug Collins to be secretary of Veterans Affairs.

“Those are great, great choices,” Carter said of his current and past colleagues. “There is a lot of talent in the House of Representatives. They are going to do a great job. They are going to support the president and his policies and his efforts. We are going to have a great four years.”

Carter, who won re-election with 62% of the votes, said the incoming president has been given a direction from the electorate after winning 312 electoral college votes and taking all seven of what had been presumed to be “battleground” states.

“The president understands the people have spoken and a mandate has been laid here that they want to see change,” Carter said. “He has indicated one of his biggest mistakes was some of the people he chose. He is surrounding himself with people who are going to shake things up and that’s what he wants and what the American people want.”

Carter also pointed to the broad support Trump received in his second re-election bid, gaining ground among voting blocs that traditionally had supported Democrats.

“They want to see change in the government,” Carter said. “They don’t want the government telling them what kind of car they are supposed to drive or what kind of appliances they are supposed to use.”

While President-elect Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has garnered a great deal of attention since the election, Carter said there is a lot of red tape that can be slashed. Carter’s most recent committee assignments were the House Budget Committee and the Committee of Energy and Commerce, where he chaired the subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials.

“We’ve got to streamline the permitting process,” he said. “Everywhere I go, in every sector of our economy, people are telling me, permitting and regulations are crushing us, crushing us. He understands that and he understands that is the charge to his administration.”

The incoming Trump administration has vowed to clamp down on the U.S. southern border. According to a U.S. House oversight committee, there have been over 6.7 million migrant encounters at the southwest border since the start of the Biden administration.

“People want to see that border secured,” Carter said. “They want to see the flow of illegal immigrants and the flow of illegal drugs stopped. He is going to be tough and make sure we are respected on the world stage again.”

As Trump has tapped some sitting House members for roles in his administration – including Rep. Matt Gaetz, who eventually withdrew his name from consideration as attorney general – it has cut into what was seen as an already slim majority for the Republicans in the House. The GOP flipped the Senate, taking control with 53 Republican senators either in office or about to be sworn in. However, some of those districts that lost a Republican representative to Trump’s administration picks are seen as safe districts, meaning their replacement likely will be another Republican. Stefanik, Waltz and Gaetz all won their seats with at least 60% of the votes, but their departures leave the GOP with 217 current or incoming members – with one California race still up in the air – out of 435 members.