The new US Congress takes office this week with the House and Senate under GOP control and Republican Donald Trump preparing to return to the White House.
Louisiana lawmakers are hoping to avoid what happened eight years ago when a splintered Republican party squandered control.
"This is where we don't want history to repeat itself," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Metairie told WWL First News. "We were split on what the focus was going to be."
He says to avoid squandering control this time, he and other GOP leaders have been meeting with President Trump for months to map strategy and make a plan for success.
US Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana says, however, that disagreement on Capitol Hill is hard to avoid.
"There is always going to be division in Washington DC, because frankly the whole place is full of frustrated ex-class presidents who all think they know best. The division that we will have next year won't be any different than the division that we always have."
Kennedy and Scalise agree that one of the top priorities for the new Congress is the economy, and a huge key to help economic conditions is renewing the previous Trump-era tax cuts that are set to expire.
"If we do not renew them, that will be a $4 trillion dollar tax increase," Kennedy explained. "It will gut the middle class in Louisiana like a fish."
Scalise says they will not waste time on that issue.
"We have a plan in that first 100 days to prevent the tax increase from happening as we are lowering inflation and interest rates," the Majority Leader said.
Both men also stressed the importance of quickly addressing immigration.
Kennedy said other priorities include beefing up the American military.
Scalise says fixing US energy policy is also at the top of the list.