WASHINGTON — There are more than 60 freshmen lawmakers in the House of Representatives, who are now finishing out their first year in Washington. Turning campaign promises into policy is difficult for anyone in Congress, but in an institution built on seniority, that’s especially true for newly elected members. 

“You want to go to Washington, you want to change the world, it’s very hard to do,” said Rep. Scott Franklin, a Republican representing the 15th district of Florida. 

It didn’t take Franklin long to learn that being both a freshman in Congress and in the minority, is not much fun.

“I have a few ideas, things we’ve introduced that aren’t going to fly,” Franklin said in an interview with Spectrum News in his Capitol Hill office. 

A former Navy pilot, Franklin entered Congress in January. Unable to accomplish much legislatively, he’s taken solace in his work on the Armed Services Committee.

“That is one of the few bipartisan things I’ve seen in my experience here on the Hill," he said. "The great thing is we have a lot of fellow veterans that I can reach out to that have that common background."

“Even though we may disagree politically on how we go about accomplishing certain things, we have the nation’s security as a common interest,” he added.

The freshman congressman said it’s difficult to distinguish himself in a body of 435 members of the House of Representatives.

“I’m more steady, even keeled and play for the long game," he said. "I know what we are trying to accomplish in the long run and I am patient in that way. I’m not one who feels like they need to be the center of attention all the time, trying to make my name known."

Franklin admits he still gets lost in the Capitol complex. 

“Early on, I did. I’ll pop out every now and then thinking I’m going into one room and realize I’m in the wrong place,” he said with a laugh. 

Another realization: He thinks Democrats have hurt themselves by packing most of President Joe Biden’s legislative proposals into one massive bill, and then bickering over it for months.

“If the Democrats wanted to make life hard for Republicans this year, they would have proposed a lot of things that were closer to the center and forced us to take votes that were really difficult,” Franklin said. 

“The challenge is they take so many things that have kernels of good ideas but then will load them up with things that make it really easy to say no," he added. "That’s no more obvious than this reconciliation package."

Franklin sees the Republican victories in Tuesday’s election as a sign of discontent with Democrats and a signal the GOP will be able to retake control of the House next November. Then, Franklin hopes he can achieve in Congress what he came to Washington to do.

“We need to get our spending under control," he said. "I understand there are debates about spending on the debt limit and things like that but going forward, we need to operate with a budget."