Tom Malinowski is no stranger to Washington. And as a former State Department official, he knows his way around the corridors of Congress – literally.

So as he sat in his office in the Cannon Building shortly before being sworn in Thursday morning, the new congressman from the 7th District observed, “I have walked these halls so many times before, but it’s an entirely different feeling.”

He talked about being in “awe” of not only the job, but of the immediate task at hand.

Yes, he said, House Democrats will pass a bill to reopen the government without funding a border wall.

And then?

Senate Republicans likely will reject it.

“For now,” Malinowski hoped.

The question for the GOP, the new congressman said, is weather they support the American people or in his words, the “mad king” in the White House.