A fresh perspective from freshmen congressman

>>> the sequester will kick in before midnight tonight.

>>> in today's edition of meet the new members series, we're getting new perspectives from opposite sides of the aisle. they're both representing districts that got redrawn, both fathers of three who began their political careers in their own statehouses. mecir is in indiana. mecir lost his first bid, finishes second in a gop primary when he challenged dan burton , but he came back in 2012 winning the seat vacated by mike pence . in his first run, he defeated the son of legendary basketball jerry tark anian. they join me now. are you disappointed you never got a chance to vote on a replacement bill? i want i would like to see it action but the house has passed two, the first almost a year ago.

>> but you never got to vote for one, not in this congress.

>> you're right. i would have liked to have had that opportunity. i believe that the structure of the sequester cuts doesn't make sense. we all to have those reductions, but this is a debate that's been going on. clearly republicans have put forward a proposal. congressman horseford, were you surprised at the lack of urgency this week, where nobody seemed to be -- there were no back room negotiation. were you surprised at the lack of urgency?

>> i did vote against adjourning last week, because i felt we did need to stay here, and do the job the american people elected us to do, to come up with a balanced approach to avoid the worst of what these cuts mean. what i did instead was to go to my district to talk to teachers, parents, to individuals in the civil service at our air force base , to talk about what these impacts would mean in nevada . these are over 10,000 job losses. it's cuts to programs like head start, reduced funding in our schools. like my elementary school which would loose 50% of its title i funding from the sequester.

>> i appreciate congress mast horsford's comments, but it seems to ig know we had a increase at the beginning of this year. we're talking about $85 billion. it's a lot of money, but it's 2% of our broader budget. i'm holding in my hand two pennies. does anyone believe our federal government is so effective and so efficient that we can't trim two pennies out of every dollar. the congress mast makes an important point. we need to do it in a -- i share the congressman's belief we need to get to work. i've been out in my district and traveled to all 19 counties, and we do need to remember these policies move forward, this isn't about a washington showdown, this is about real people and the impact in their very real lives.

>> congressman 1/2 orsford, you', you were a state senate leader in nevada , tell me some of the differences that you've noticed already in how congress has run the first two months, compared to how you ran the state senate in nevada .

>> mr. mecir and i have the same experience, and i think he would say the same thing. we worked across party lines to get things done that need to get done in state government . i worked under three republican governors to pass balanced budgets . governor brian sandoval worked with us to pass a balanced approach increases slightly the revenues that we needed, while also reducing spending in strategic areas while preserving the most essentially services like education and health care . we needed some of that common sentence here in washington. most of us need to work together. congressman mecir and i, i think, share a lot. he introduced a similar big that i did in nevada .

>> congressman mecir, i know there's more of an effort with the 2012 freshman class to be more bipartisan than there was with the 2010 freshman class that was more of a really a one-sided class , if you will. you're the president, i guess, of the freshman class . i don't know what that means. what does that come with? what kind of perks does that come with?

>> you don't get a gavel with that assignment, but you do get a platform to reach out and try to work and be a part of leading. i have worked out to kajman cartwright and horsford, and trying to -- this is a sweeping class of 80-plus people, but most of the time in history when that happens, the makeup is very partisan. last year's class would be an example. this is a divided class , 40-plus democrats, 35 republicans, so we're working to even do some social things. one of the things that surprised me the most when i came here, even at the beginning of orientation, we're divided into different dinners and lunches. there is not much that brings us together. we're hoping to create some efforts and organize some efforts to make that happen this year. i believe that should make a difference.

>> congressmen, i want you to know that i think -- i've heard this a lot, and i've heard this freshman classes trying to be different. so open invitation here on "the daily rundown" for you to come on together or any pair to come on together.

>> super.

>> thank you.