Congressman smucker, when did you get involved in politics and why . I was a Small Business owner for 25 years and did not anticipate i did not anticipate i would do that more did i anticipate i would be serving hearing congress. I ran a business for 25 years. We grew into several hundred employees and saw over that time what i thought was the overreach of the government. The encouragement of government on decisions we were making. Additionald to need resources to comply with regulations and so on. Ofelieve that overreach government is Holding Businesses back and continues to hold our economy back, holds people back. I wanted to ensure my kids, my grandkids, would have the opportunity to live the American Dream that i had the opportunity to do. What was your business . Construction company. I think i am the only member of congress ever to be born in in amish family. Were the amish driving the buggy and everything. Thes number 10 of 12 kids, first of my family to graduate from high school. The amish tradition is that formal education ands or in eighth or ninth grade. Withi approached my family that idea they agreed. They were reluctant at first. Publicould not go to school. I paid my own tuition by hanging drywall at night. And in older brother, right out of high school, but that Small Business. Just a few employees. I was a Small Business owner and 17yearsold. Operating out of a german my parents home. But a tremendous opportunity to grow that company. We became a regional leader with several hundred employees. About. What i am talking being able to start with little or nothing and live your dreams. That is what america is about. There are stories all throughout my district and throughout the country about that. Today i think it would be a lot harder. It was about 35 years ago i started that company. It would be a lot harder today for someone to do that because of the overreach of government. Are you still part of the Amish Community today . The area i represent, particularly one county is the largest amish district in the company but i myself am not amish. I am lutheran today. What impact do you think growing up on mashhad on who you are . What do takeaway from that . Well, there is the amish hardworking community. Great family values. Really care about their neighbors and really care about other people. Those are some values i was raised with and so i think that led to some degree to my trying to find solutions to problems we are faced with. Supervisor. Ed as i got involved with local government and enjoyed that opportunity to hear from neighbors and others and try to solve problems. That was my project the state senate and will be my approach here as well. What would you say your record was at the state senate level . What were you focused on . i represent a diverse district but a conservative district in a lot of ways. I tend to like the nolabels aspect. The nolabels caucus here that i would potentially be joining. That, i worked in the state senate to try to find solutions to difficult problems and i am willing to work with anyone who may agree with me and knowing that everyone is here representing different districts and have different experiences. A big part of being successful in the state senate is learning to listen and understand other viewpoints and find common ground. What is your focus in washington . i am proud to be part of the Education Workforce committee. We worked hard to ensure that every child in pennsylvania had the opportunity for a worldclass education for the career college, military, whatever they chose to do. Here, one of the focuses of the committee is to reauthorize the Higher Education act. Are some great opportunities there. Particularly i think we need additional focus on careers and technical education. Availablelot of jobs but we need to ensure that we are preparing our students to take those jobs. Jobs are changing today. That is a real opportunity. I am also on the transportation and infrastructure committee. We did some work on that in pennsylvania as well, where we realized that infrastructure is a core function of government. So we were able to increase funding for highways and bridges. That was very necessary will stop at the same time we are cutting back in government and other areas. It is about focusing on what are the Core Functions of the government. I am looking forward to working with the administration and colleagues across the aisle on building 21st century infrastructures. In your previous job at the state senate, you did not work on education belonging to in your previous job, you worked on education for it illegal immigrants. Some view that is not in line with the republican party. Explain. Smucker i feel we must fix our immigration system and it does start, i believe, with securing the border. Nifty know who is coming into our country. We have to know who has come across the border. Who has overstayed their welcome. We know there are people who are not on a so whatever we end up doing with immigration, we start with securing the borders so i fully support that approach. We have to build a system that we have to fix our Legal Immigration system and we are a country of immigrants. We are talking about the American Dream. We should be welcoming people who want to come here and work hard and cant their families and live the American Dream. That is what has made our country great in the past and will do so in the future as well. You have what other members of Congress Might call a shorter commute than those on the west coast. You have to just drive a couple hours to get back home. Who is back home . Tell us about your family . Rep. Smucker i have a little over a twohour drive if i hit the traffic right. It was different when i was able to commute every day. Iwould do that here, too, if lived closer. It is a high priority to get back to my constituents. My family. My wife is there. I have a 14yearold son who was in eighth grade and to in college. 19yearold in a 21yearold. My wife is a stayathome mom while we were raising the family. I particularly appreciated that the cause of course the state legislature does take a lot of time away from the family so she has been focused on trying to create a normal childhood for our kids as possible and has been great. Host what do your children think about you rooting for this this u. S. House seat . Rep. Smucker they are excited. It means im not much is there for them. It is hard, but with two of them in college, they are excited about what is happening here and particularly my son, he is 14yearsold, he is interested in politics. And one of the things is, he gets to meet some people he would not meet otherwise. We have to try to have the family here as possible so its been great. Host thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Rep. Smucker thank you for having me. Now a discussion on u. S. Immigration and refugee policy. This is one hour he and 20 minutes