Congressman Drew Ferguson was the guest speaker Tuesday morning at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce Early Bird Breakfast.

While business leaders from around the county ate their breakfast, Ferguson discussed the state of the nation, including why he believes it’s a great time to be working as a congressman in Washington D.C.

“There is so much change and so many different thoughts and so many new ideas coming into Washington right now and I’m excited to represent the third district of Georgia there,” Ferguson said.

He said he’s often asked what surprised him once he started working in Washington D.C. Ferguson, who served as mayor of West Point before getting elected to his current post in the House of Representatives.

Ferguson said the biggest surprise was the diversity of the nation and the differences in views from one coast to another.

“We can all identify thanks to the news and the media the very bright lines that exist between conservative republicans and progressive democrats. Those lines are very bright. What’s very blurred are the regional differences,” Ferguson said. “What works for the northeast doesn’t necessarily work for the southeast and what works for the southeast doesn’t work for the far west and that certainly work in the southwest and that probably doesn’t fit in the Midwest.”

Ferguson spoke at length about healthcare, one of the hottest issues in the country right now.

He voted in favor of the American Health Care Act of 2017, which is a bill to partially repeal the Affordable Care Act. The bill passed the House of Representatives in May.

“I think Congress is going to work very diligently to fix our healthcare system,” Ferguson said. “It is important to every single American, no matter where you are on the economic spectrum. It’s important to the business community, and it’s important to the business of this nation.”

Ferguson believes both political parties will come to an agreement on healthcare soon. He believes the parties can unite on two important factors — agreeing on pre-existing conditions and by increasing competition in the marketplace.

“From a purely political standpoint, the Republican party went after President Obama’s signature legislation and the reality is that was a hard pill for Democrats to take,” he said. “That would have been the equivalent of the Democratic party providing funding for the Berlin Wall after Reagan tore it down. It’s that signature moment, that signature piece of legislation. Now I think you’re going to start to see Republicans and Democrats coming together to try to fix the various healthcare systems.”

After about a half hour speech, Ferguson took photos and met with people who stayed after the breakfast to talk to the congressman.

He said at the end of the day, he hopes people take away that America is in great shape moving forward.

“There’s a sense of optimism. There is a lot of work getting done. There’s a lot of work that has been done and there’s a lot of work that will get done,” Ferguson said. “The future for America is bright. I truly believe that.”