Oklahoma’s newest Congressman Jim Bridenstine is hitting the ground running but he’s used to that. As a Navy fighter pilot Bridenstine always had to think a step ahead and his seat in congress and new committee assignments will demand the same.

One of the placements has a special spot in Bridenstine’s heart, the Armed Services Committee. “I’m really looking forward to serving on it” Bridenstine told KRMG in an exclusive interview. “It’s a committee where you get to remember you’re serving the United States Congress but you’re also serving the war fighter” he proudly said.

With the fiscal cliff just around the corner the congressman is worried about the military. “If you look at the fiscal cliff a big portion of that are the defense cuts that are coming from the sequestration process” Bridenstine explained. “That’s 500 billion dollars worth of cuts to the defense department over ten years” he pointed out. “That’s not a direction that anybody wants to see our country go especially at a time when our world is more dangerous than it’s ever been.”

Bridenstine admits spending has to be cut but he would like to see cooler heads spare the people and systems that protect us. “We need to find cuts other places” Jim began. “We cannot just keep going down this road where we’re spending more and more every compromise is more spending and less taxes.”

Bridenstine will also have a seat on the Science, Space, and Technology committee. He also has some experience in that area not only as a pilot but as the former director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

Bridenstine and his fellow freshman members will be sworn in on January 3^rd.