For Idaho's newest congressman, the past week has been a whirlwind in Washington, where Walt Minnick of Boise attended freshman orientation and learned how to navigate the corridors of power - and operate two Blackberries.

In an interview with the Statesman's Washington, D.C., correspondent Erika Bolstad, Minnick covered everything from his decision to join the fiscally conservative Blue Dog caucus of Democrats to the congratulatory phone call he received from President-elect Barack Obama - which you can hear online at IdahoStatesman.com. Read what Minnick had to say inside on Main 5.

Q: What was it like, the first couple of days?

It's sort of like freshman orientation in college ... except the circumstances are a little fancier, because you have the majority leader of the House escorting you through the private areas of the Capitol. So the setting is a little better than it was at the fraternity house at college.

Q: How do you see yourself fitting into the Democratic caucus? Do you see yourself becoming a Blue Dog Democrat?

I am one. They endorsed 10, four of whom were elected, and I've already been to a Blue Dog caucus meeting.

Q: How was that?

Spirited. You represent a conservative district, and it might be that the Democratic leadership of both the House and the Senate - and the White House - it may not line up with some of the views of your constituents.

Q: How do you think you're going to reconcile that?

I will have no compulsion about straying off the reservation. I'm going to represent Idaho and do what I think is the best for my constituents, regardless of whether that aligns or doesn't align with the views of the caucus or views of the administration.

Q: Do you see any issues in particular, things on the horizon, where that might happen?

I'm very concerned about bailing out every failing company. Free enterprise only works if you're free to fail as well as free to succeed. Failing businesses have to be allowed to go bankrupt. Up until at least recently, if you failed in the U.S., you went bankrupt and somebody else more capable bought the assets and you walked away having taken a loss. That's what keeps the system efficient. I'm very concerned of losing sight of that as we deal with this current extreme economic stress.

Q: The proposed auto bailout is sort of Exhibit A of that, right? Do you have some concerns about that?

I think that if they're going to run out of cash and go bankrupt, they need to go bankrupt. That doesn't mean that the jobs and the facilities go away. It means that they get reorganized with new management or sold to people who can run them more efficiently. I'm concerned that in the interest of mitigating sometimes wrenching short-term adjustment, we're going to spend money we don't have, taxpayer money we don't have, and prevent adjustments in business that need to occur if we are going to be globally competitive.

Q: What about committees? Where do you think you're going to fit? Where do you want to be?

One committee I very much hope to be on is Agriculture. We're a district that has dairy, we've got some fabulous grain-growing country in the central part of the district, we have irrigated farming, a whole variety of crops, and we grow a lot of cattle. We have a lot of out-of-work lumberjacks and a lot of federal forest that needs management, so that's a committee I'm particularly interested in getting on.

Q: Have you had a chance to speak to anyone on Obama's team, even the president-elect himself?

I did have a congratulatory call from Obama, so I was impressed by that. I was on the phone talking to my wife at the time, so all I have is the voice mail. I got a call from a blocked number, and I decided it was more important to talk to my wife, not knowing it was the president calling.

Q: What are you hearing from people in Idaho right now? What do they want from you, Congress and the president?

Most people want action on problems that are important to them, and they don't really care very much about the politics of it or the practicality of it. Right now with the economy falling off a cliff, the bulk of what people want is some assurance with respect to jobs, their homes, their benefits. People really do want change right now, because the change that's happening is all negative, so they're looking for help. And most of the things they're looking for help with, they don't have a partisan edge, they don't have an ideological edge, it's just help.

Q: Do they have specific suggestions?

I am going to spend about two weeks traveling around the district, meeting people. I'm going to do this for a couple of weeks and see if I can get a lot of firsthand input. My guess is I will come back with a lot of ideas with respect to things that are very, very important to people, that if we can address them, do change consumer psychology, create some economic security. And out of those two things will come the seeds for eventual recovery.

Q: Obviously the economy is going to take center stage. But you probably have some personal goals, too.

I want to forge a working relationship with the other members from Idaho, so that our small state can have as effective a presence as it can to work for the issues that are either particular to Idaho or uniquely important to Idaho. I think that it is extremely important, that our delegation be collegial and wherever possible, working as a team toward achieving goals of importance to our state.

Q: What about the bigger-picture goals? Anything in particular that you'd like to work on?

In terms of overarching issues beyond the immediate, the most critical is: What do we do to get the government to live within its means longer term? We had a yawning structural deficit going into this recession that because of all the extraordinary measures, is going to be a trillion dollar deficit.

Beyond the immediate, we as a Congress, we as a government and society, have to make the hard decisions that are going to get the government living within its means. I think we can argue that may be the most important thing, longer term. It's not the most immediate, but I think it may be the most important. I know one congressman, particularly a freshman, has only a small part to play in that, but I think that's the problem, the overarching problem that Congress and the government has to deal with. There are no painless solutions to that.

Erika Bolstad: (202) 383-6104