Benishek, a surgeon who had never run for political office, says he decided to launch his congressional bid after the $787 billion economic stimulus legislation passed in February 2009.

“I just couldn’t believe they would spend nearly a trillion dollars without reading the legislation,” he says. “This just put me over the top.”

It’s no surprise then that cutting federal spending is his top priority in his new job. But health care, too, will be a defining issue. He pledges to read every bill before voting on it, and he will work to repeal the health care overhaul enacted in 2010.

Benishek says he is interested in seats on the Budget and Oversight and Government Reform committees. As the father of a veteran, he also would like to pursue a post on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He proposes a hiring freeze in the federal government, and he wants an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. Benishek describes his ideas as a combination of basic conservative philosophy mixed with the concerns of his northern Michigan constituents.

“I’m sort of a common-sense guy. I’ve got a lot to learn — I admit that,” he says. “I’m a quick learner.”

When Benishek was 5 years old, his father died while working in the mines of Iron County, Mich., leaving Benishek’s mother to raise the family.

“I didn’t really get too much handed to me. I had to work my entire life,” he says. “I think that’s all Americans want — an opportunity to work. People of my district feel that way.”

First elected to Congress in December 2004, Congressman Charles Boustany is serving his third term in office. He represents Louisiana?s Seventh Congressional District and has championed healthcare reform. Dr. Boustany is a member of House Ways and Means Committee with jurisdiction over tax, trade, healthcare and entitlement policy where, as the only Republican doctor on the committee, he works to promote sound economic development, expand markets for U.S. produced goods and work to put programs like Medicare and Social Security on solid financial footing

As a former cardiovascular surgeon with more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Boustany understands the importance of healthcare and is at the forefront of healthcare policy in Congress. He believes the patient-doctor relationship is the most important part of healthcare and has worked to implement patient-centered healthcare solutions.

Dr. Boustany graduated from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans in 1982. In 1990 he began a successful medical practice Lafayette. For 14 years, he ran a small business and committed to helping others by providing the highest quality healthcare to his patients and the community.

Harris is the first person from the Chesapeake Bay’s western shore to win the 1st District in two decades and the first ever from Baltimore County.

He opposes abortion, takes a tough stance on immigration, opposes gun control and favors opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the outer continental shelf for oil and gas production. He wants to make the Bush-era tax cuts permanent and eliminate earmarks, which he vows he will never seek. He favors cutting the size of the government by, for example, eliminating the Education Department.

Although his official residence is on the bay’s western shore, he owns a condo in Cambridge on the Eastern Shore. An anesthesiologist, he has worked at hospitals in Salisbury and Easton.

Eastern Shore residents are particularly concerned about the environmental health of the bay. Harris wants to “assess the effectiveness and funding of federal programs and to ensure collaboration between state and federal agencies to accomplish these goals.” And he wants to make a priority of preserving the legs of the Eastern Shore economy — poultry, fishing, agriculture and tourism — through private sector job creation and cutting taxes.

He says the first bill he will sponsor would limit House members to six terms and senators to two terms.

He would like a seat on the Agriculture Committee, to fit his district’s rural character, as well as on the Energy and Commerce or Armed Services panels.

The only criticisms Bucshon faced from conservative voters during the campaign were complaints that he was too neatly in line with Washington Republicans. His political philosophy reflects the meat and potatoes of the GOP platform.

“I’m a person that always believes in limited government, low taxation by government on business, and I’m a strong believer in the private sector and free-market economy,” he says. “I’m a fiscal conservative, a social conservative.”

A cardiothoracic surgeon, Bucshon wants to push for repeal of this year’s health care overhaul, even though he thinks it is unlikely to happen while President Obama is in office. His more immediate goal is to prevent any tax increases amid the current economic difficulties, and he says that cutting government spending will help create jobs.

He also gives priority to national issues that have ramifications for the 8th District. As an example, he says he would fight Democrats’ cap-and-trade legislation, contending it would damage the coal industry — a major employer in Indiana and specifically in the district.

Bucshon says he would like a seat on the Armed Services Committee to protect the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Ind., but he also is interested in serving on the Energy and Commerce Committee and its health panel. A spot on the Transportation and Infrastructure panel, meanwhile, would allow him to address highway and railroad issues in his state, he says.

Representing a district hurt more than most by the economic downturn and real estate crisis, Heck will look to help mold a fiscal policy aimed squarely at job creation.

“The No. 1 issue we’re facing is the fact that no matter what’s coming out of Washington there’s been absolutely nothing to stimulate our economy and create an environment where we can have sustainable job growth,” Heck says. “It seems like the folks in Washington don’t have a clue.”

There is no doubt that Heck’s constituents have had a rough time lately. Comprising much of the Las Vegas suburbs, his district has seen home prices fall steeply while unemployment has steadily risen.

As a member of Congress, Heck will embrace a “fair” tax structure that, he says, would allow citizens to keep a larger percentage of their income. His proposed policies include lowering the long-term capital gains tax rate and eliminating the estate tax.

The nation’s health care system is also a central concern for Heck, a practicing physician.

“I think that we need to rely more on people who have real-world experience to craft changes to our health care system, as opposed to a 2,700-page behemoth,” he says.

Heck’s ideas for improving the health care system include implementing an individual-based (rather than employerprovided) insurance option, passing tort reform and improving the health of the nation through more nutritious diet plans.

Gosar’s 25 years as a dentist give him a perspective on the health care system and small businesses that makes him determined to end the Democrats’ “job-killing agenda” and bureaucratic ways, he says. Democrats have “built levels upon levels of bureaucracy” that are choking off job creation and that must be stripped away, he says. A case in point: environmental regulation. Businesses not only must deal with the EPA, but also with state and local regulators, he explains.

He believes the health care law will cut off access to doctors and dentists by imposing new paperwork burdens, lowering reimbursement and allowing mid-level practitioners such as dental aides to stand in for dentists and doctors on certain procedures. The way to lower health costs is through market forces, not government, he explains.

Gosar has had the backing of Sarah Palin and the tea party, but he emphasizes his independence by calling himself a “Paul Gosar Republican.”

He would like to cut federal spending and the federal workforce to help make the government “lean and mean.” But he says government investment has a role to play in strengthening business and economic activity by building roads, bridges and other infrastructure and by spending on agriculture. “I also know that you have to invest in things,” he says. “You just can’t always cut, cut, cut.” Gosar also supports assistance for American Indians.

His background and policy concerns make the Energy and Commerce Committee a natural assignment, Gosar says.

A retired ophthalmologist who later became vice president of a health care advertising agency, Hayworth wants to spend the 112th Congress on the “depowering” of the 2010 health care overhaul.

Specifically, she wants to work on legislation that would give consumers more choices by facilitating the sale of insurance across state lines and ensuring that health savings accounts are not discouraged.

Hayworth hopes to make changes to Medicare, and she wants to guarantee that doctors are adequately reimbursed by the program.

“Right now, Medicare providers are headed for an enormous cut in reimbursements,” Hayworth says. “That needs to be worked out, and that needs to be a pay-for.”

She wants a seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, in order to have a say on those issues as well as focus on helping to develop nuclear energy.

Interested in education and jobs issues as well, Hayworth would like a seat on the Education and Labor Committee if she cannot serve on Energy and Commerce. But as a fiscal conservative who wants to cut taxes and balance the budget, she believes funding for the Education Department should not be increased and other non-military federal spending should be cut.

“The Department of Education, unfortunately, however nobly intended, has not produced any benefit to our nation’s students,” Hayworth says. “We need to cut spending. We need to facilitate growth.”