A Republican is someone who believes in the foundational principles of the country, according to U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg.

Hillsdale College Republicans hosted Walberg for a talk about the government shutdown and the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” Oct. 29. 

“I’m a Washingtonian,” said Walberg, who represents Michigan’s fifth congressional district.

“Most of you understand that Washington never won political parties. He fought to not have political parties. In fact, he said it’d be the ruination of America. I think he’s getting close to being right in many ways, having gone through 29 days of shutdown now with two parties.”

As chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Walberg said their goal was to save $330 billion as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” His committee increased the savings to $350 billion, which was then reduced to $280 billion after the bill went through the U.S. Senate.

After a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon last night, Walberg said they are “little by little” disassembling the U.S. Department of Education. Education is mainly for providing a workforce that is trained and capable, according to Walberg.

“I hope to be the last chair of the House education committee, and she hopes to be the last Secretary of Education,” Walberg said. “We won’t have the votes to abolish the department, but I bet by the time we finish this term, we will have a Department of Education that is a shadow of what it once was.”

Walberg served as a pastor before entering politics. When Walberg became involved with the right-to-life cause in his county, people started to ask him if he would run for state house.

“I said, ‘no,’ but then God said, ‘yes.’ I think the churches, in days gone by, built the society, they built the morality,” Walberg said. “I think it’s starting to come back a bit. I think Charlie Kirk is a real instigator of that. And, I think seeing young people now, high school students that are passionate about reforming America and going back to values that they see as values that can be a blessing to society, so keep the church involved.”

Freshman Evan Myers said it was interesting to hear the firsthand experience of someone involved in politics.

“I’m from Washington state and the politics there are just so different, and it feels a lot more divisive, and so I think mostly it was just really encouraging to hear from a politician who’s also a Christian and has those values in mind, and it just gave me a bit more hope than I had before in our politicians coming from an area that is very, very liberal and a lot of ways anti-Christian,” Myers said.

Junior Michael Rupe said he appreciated Walberg’s pragmatism in regards to party politics.

“We have this really bad tendency of sticking to our own little flick within the conservative movement,” Rupe said. “But he was very up front. He says there are things we have to keep in sight that are more important, that we have to put above our own interests to work as a party.”