Rep.-Elect Van Orden Rolls Up to First Day of Congress on Motorcycle

Rep.-elect Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) cruised up to the front steps of the U.S. Capitol on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Tuesday morning for his first day of work.

Van Orden, a retired Navy SEAL, entered the Capitol grounds on his “Milwaukee Iron” and was greeted by reporters and staff as he stopped in front of the steps to speak about his first day.

“This is Milwaukee Iron,” Van Orden said. “And I want people to understand that we’re not just bringing our Wisconsin values to the Capitol here. We’re bringing Milwaukee Iron, so this is going to be a physical symbol that Milwaukee is in the House.”

Van Orden, who narrowly won a district that had been blue since the ’90s, said that among his first priorities, he joins his Republican colleagues in seeking to rescind IRS funding that was included in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August.

House Majority Leader-elect Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced ahead of the new Congress that the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which would take back “tens of billions of dollars allocated to the IRS for 87,000 new IRS agents,” would be one of Republicans’ first legislative priorities.

“When we’re talking about tracking individual taxpayers’ dollars annually, that means that the federal government will have to monitor every single American citizen’s transactions to a level that’s unprecedented and that’s just not okay,” Van Orden said.

Securing the southern border, the Wisconsin Republican added, is another top priority for him.

Prior to any House business taking place, however, Republicans must elect a speaker of the House. Republicans nominated House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for the role, but a handful of McCarthy opposers have signaled they plan to vote against McCarthy with just hours to go until the noon vote, which means the House may not have a speaker right away.

Van Orden is adamantly supporting McCarthy’s bid for speaker and conveyed confidence that McCarthy would prevail.

“Kevin McCarthy will be the speaker of the House, and if that takes one ballot or 100 ballots, and if it takes one day or three weeks, it doesn’t matter,” Van Orden said. “So we’re in it to win. He’s got staying powers. He’s a person that’s going to make sure this party’s unified.”

Van Orden, a motorcycle enthusiast who joked that he has been riding since he was “eight years old,” infused the hobby into his campaign. In April 2021, he released a campaign ad showing him riding along rolling hills as he promoted that he was “ready to serve.”