Tenure
As of November 2023,Van Orden served on the House Committee on Agriculture,the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,and the House Committee on Veterans’Affairs. [16]
Van Orden was giving a Capitol tour on the evening of July 26,2023,when he happened upon Senate pages lying on the floor of the United States Capitol rotunda taking photos of the interior of the Capitol dome (this is a traditional activity for the pages during their final week of service). [17] [18] Van Orden allegedly swore at the pages and told them to get off the floor. [18] [19] Van Orden's behavior was condemned by his fellow Republicans,including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Thom Tillis,who said,"This is inexcusable and embarrassing behavior for a member of Congress or any adult for that matter. The Congressman should do the right thing and apologize." [18]
During President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address,Van Orden shouted "lies" after Biden criticized Donald Trump over Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. [20]
He has supported the U.S. House speakerships of Mike Johnson and Kevin McCarthy,which has led him to fight with more conservative Republicans opposing their nominations. [21]
In February 2025,Van Orden filed a resolution to impeach U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer after the judge blocked Elon Musk's team from accessing sensitive U.S. Treasury Department payment systems. [22] The following month,Musk contributed the maximum allowable donation to Van Orden and other Republicans who supported the impeachment of federal judges who had ruled against the Trump administration. [23]
Following the 2025 shootings of Minnesota legislators,Van Orden falsely linked the perpetrator to the anti-Trump No Kings protests,writing "Yesterday,a whole pack of election deniers got together and spewed hate. One of them decided to murder and attempt to murder some politicians that were not far Left enough for them." Van Orden responded to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's statements mourning the shootings in posts calling Walz "stupid" and a "clown." He replied to criticism of his comments from fellow Wisconsin representative Mark Pocan,telling Pocan "It is statistically impossible that you could be dumb enough to believe what you are writing." [24] [25]
Van Orden voted in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Van Orden celebrated passage of the Act by posting "YES!" on X in response to a post critical of the bill which stated “17 million people just lost health care. 18 million kids just lost school meals. 3 million Americans just lost food assistance. And $3.5 trillion was added to the deficit. All for a tax cut for Trump’s billionaire donors.”Van Orden later deleted the post. [26]
After voting to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,Van Orden commented that he and other Republicans were "not a bunch of little bitches" for falling in line with President Trump’s policies and self-imposed deadline. [27]
