Connecticut's Fourth District Congressman Jim Himes was in the running to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee but lost out to New Mexico congressman Ben Ray Lujan.
One of the criticisms facing Himes, a former Goldman Sachs banker, was his ties to the financial industry. Shortly before the announcement of Lujan's appointment, Himes disputed those criticisms.
"The nature of those concerns, I think is overstated. I was one of the key people working on Dodd-Frank," Himes said. "I'm in a position to defend it because having worked in that industry, I actually understand the mechanics and the ins-and-outs."
In addition to the financial sector, another issue of concern to residents in Fairfield County is transportation. Over the last two years, the Metro-North railroad has had a variety of accidents, derailments, delays and shutdowns. The Fourth District is also home to the heavily used and frequently congested I-95 corridor to New York City.
"We need a steady and consistent source of investment to bring all of our transportation infrastructure into the 21st century, and out of these Civil War-type technologies that we're still employing in this incredibly economically vibrant region," Himes said.
Himes is concerned about Congress's ability to tackle issues with more common ground between parties, like transportation, because of other more contentious issues like the Keystone XL pipeline and immigration, that have already been at the forefront of discussion in the first week since the fall recess.
"My hope is that we can get past these very controversial things to do what all the leadership said they wanted to do, which is find those things upon which we agree and move forward," Himes said. "Infrastructure is one of those things. I don't care if your Democrat or Republican, you need investment in your infrastructure."
Even on some of the other more controversial issues like immigration, Himes thinks reform could be passed in the House if Speaker John Boehner would bring it to the floor for a vote.
Listen to the full interview below with Himes that aired on WNPR's Morning Edition.
