GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Congressman Bill Huizenga called into FOX 17 late Tuesday night to give us his impression of President Trump's first speech to a joint session of Congress.
"It certainly was a rapid fire, sort of laundry list of things he wants to deal with and accomplish," Huizenga said. "But it was quite disciplined, certainly compared to what we've seen in the past from Mr. Donald Trump."
The president said he wants to unify the country and Congress.
"I think he was far more conciliatory than a lot of people expected," Huizenga said. "I was speaking with some of my Democrat colleagues, and I heard one of them say, 'maybe we need to expect more out of him on the front end.' And I think he certainly was reaching out."
Huizenga went on to say how well he thinks Trump is handling how to use the position of the office to build relationships with those across the aisle, contrasting that with how he viewed the previous administration's relationship with Republicans.
One of the first bills President Trump signed was a roll back of requirements for companies to disclose payments to foreign governments in return for oil and mineral rights - it was a bill sponsored by Huizenga, whose position was that keeping it would have put American oil and gas companies at a competitive disadvantage. Critics contest that by saying the actual disadvantage before the rollback was only in public relations in the fight against global corruption.
"We required our American companies to lay out their business plan and all of their estimates, and really all of their proprietary business decisions that they're making for foreign companies to basically read and look at and underbid our American companies," Huizenga said. He also said that the Securities and Exchange Commission isn't the right organization to regulate oil and gas companies, but said that there may need another to give oversight.
