Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank is eagerly anticipating the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency and what could be a flood of executive orders meant to begin immediately implementing the GOP agenda, the first-term Colorado Springs lawmaker said less than a week before the former president’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“It’s an exciting time,” Crank told Colorado Politics on Wednesday. “I’ll be there.”

Crank said he would be equally excited “whether the president was a Democrat or Republican,” adding that he was impressed at proceedings earlier this month when Congress met to certify the November presidential election.

“I was really struck by the transfer of power on Jan. 6, how well that went and how smooth it went,” Crank said. “And to see Kamala Harris up there certifying an election for her opponent, I think, spoke volumes about the greatness of our country.”

Harris, the vice president, replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket last summer but lost to Trump by one of the closest popular vote margins in the last century, while at the same time Republicans took the majority in the U.S. Senate and narrowly kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives. In her role as president of the Senate, Harris oversaw the electoral vote count that confirmed Trump’s victory.

Crank said the GOP’s trifecta control of the White House and both chambers of Congress will lead to rapid changes on multiple fronts, including on immigration and energy policy, in line with the incoming administration’s stated intention to hit the ground running.

“I’m excited about the future and about the opportunity that we’re going to have in Congress to make real change in America, and having Donald Trump and Congress both controlled by the same party is going to make a lot of difference,” said Crank, who was endorsed by Trump.

“I think the president is going to come in, and he’s going to do a lot of executive orders,” Crank said. “I think the push is to do this very quickly.”

As soon as Trump takes office, Crank predicted, Coloradans will see a different stance toward immigrants, echoing Trump’s vow in October at a campaign rally in Aurora to launch “Operation Aurora,” a massive deportation program aimed at people unlawfully staying in the U.S., particularly gang members and individuals involved in criminal activity.

“First and foremost, there will be deportations, starting with the criminals and the people who’ve been convicted of crimes,” said Crank, adding that the House has been busy passing legislation aimed at doing that.

“I think that’s what the President is going to focus on through executive through executive orders, as well,” he said.

In addition, Crank said he expects Trump will take executive action to allow for faster permitting for oil and gas drilling on federal lands.

Crank said members of the Colorado congressional delegation have been working together on a bipartisan basis to thwart another potential presidential directive, which could relocate the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Alabama.

In the closing days of his first administration nearly four years ago, Trump announced the headquarters of the military combatant unit would move from its temporary quarters at Peterson Space Force Base to Huntsville, Alabama. The Biden administration, however, put the brakes on the move and reversed the decision in July 2023, and, by the end of that year, the installation had reached what’s known as full operational capacity at the Colorado base.

Crank said this week that Republican and Democratic members of the state’s delegation have continued to meet regularly on the matter and plan to argue that it’s both in the interests of national security and a tremendous cost-saver to keep Space Command where it’s at.

Cranks added that the lawmakers don’t know for sure whether Trump has made the decision but they plan to make their case if the administration announces a move.

“We’re all pretty heavily involved in trying to keep Space Command in Colorado,” he said. “We don’t know where the decision is, and that’s one thing we’re trying to find out. There’s certainly a chance that there could be a decision made, and the president can make that decision, but we all believe that, even if that decision is made, we’re going to do everything we can to make our case that it belongs in Colorado, for both national security reasons as well as for the taxpayers.”

Crank said cost estimates for moving the headquarters range into the billions, possibly providing an incentive to remain in Colorado.

“This is a big number to move it at a time when we’re trying to scrape together every dime where we can for deficit reduction, for the extension of the Trump tax cuts, for all of these things, and many of us believe we ought to bump up defense spending,” Crank said.

“So, if you’ve got all those things going on, I think we’ve got a good plan for making that case. We’re working hand in hand, and I’m actually really kind of like the way we’ve been working — Democrat and Republican as a delegation. It’s been great.”