TYLER, Texas (KETK) — U.S. Congressman Nathaniel Moran was back home in East Texas on hosting Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, for a fundraising event in Tyler.

KETK News caught up with Moran before the event and he had a lot to say about the recent debt ceiling deal and his priorities for East Texas moving forward.

After only five months in D.C., Congressman Nathaniel Moran believes major policies have already been tackled on Capitol Hill to further improve life in East Texas.

“We’ve heard that without question that border security and spending were the two largest issues, so we dealt with that border security issue and passed that out of the house. We hope we will get support in the Senate and from the president,” said Moran.

This week, enough federal lawmakers got on board to push through a debt ceiling deal. President Biden hailed the bipartisan support to pay our nation’s bills.

“I know that bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard, but we can never stop trying. There’s no other way. No matter how tough our politics gets, we see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans,” said Biden.

Moran was not for the deal, and said he voted no.

He said while there are some good parts to the plan, he ultimately believes East Texans needed more from the deal that would benefit them.

“We want to plant our flag and say East Texans need more as far as reducing spending and reducing our deficit,” said Moran.

He says one of the best ways to make that happen is to become more energy independent.

“We need to unleash oil and gas industries across this nation and become more independent so that we can be a world leader not just economically, but with foreign policy and a military standpoint,” said Moran.

He added that his work in D.C. is just getting started.

“You are looking for a defender of freedom a champion of liberty and someone who will stand with the constitution,” Moran said.