JH: That’s an interesting question because I don’t believe that the Congress is really as partisan as it portrayed. Yes, the two parties will always have their differences on some major social and philosophical issues, but the Congress was able to pass very significant legislation in a bipartisan manner last year. We passed a five-year transportation bill, replaced the No Child Left Behind Act with the Every Student Succeeds Act, and passed the 54th consecutive National Defense Authorization Act. These are significant pieces of legislation that will affect the entire nation for years to come. Oh, and we also voted to do away with the Sustainable Growth Rate after 14 years—finally! My approach in Congress is simple. Rather than focusing on our differences, I try to find a member from the other side of the aisle that shares my concern on a specific issue. Maybe their district is facing the same problem that my district is, or they have a constituency or group that shares a concern with me, like health care. I will go and seek out that member and work with them to draft a bill that addresses the issue but is something that each of us can then take back to our respective parties and support. Focusing on the issue rather than party is a formula that I believe works well. That’s why Raul and I can work together on health care issues; we share the common bonds of the emergency department and focusing on fixing problems.

LAC: What are you most and least proud of in your political career?

JH: In all honesty, what I am most proud of is the staff that I have working on my behalf serving the people of my district. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to be back home in Nevada at the supermarket and have someone come up and ask me if I am Representative Heck. Although that can be a little scary sometimes, it is almost always someone who just wants to say thank you for something that one of my staff helped them with. Whether it’s a veteran who we helped get the benefits that he was having trouble receiving or someone dealing with a home foreclosure, my staff does amazing work in helping the people who live in my district. To me, being a member of Congress is not about passing bills in D.C.—it’s about taking care of the people back home. On the “least proud” part of the question, I don’t really feel there has been anything not to be proud of. I certainly have struggled with deciding how to vote on some issues. But for each vote, I try to weigh the positives and negatives of the bill and then make my decision. For the really tough ones, I ask myself if I believe that the bill would be good for my three kids and all the other kids in the state and the nation. I figure if it passes that test, then I can be at peace with the vote.