U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, Bradford Woods, R-4th District, has been busy during her first year on Capitol Hill.

First there was the election itself, then orientation, committee appointments, tax breaks, Sept. 11 and much more. Hart detailed her experiences, working with President George W. Bush, Social Security reform and Enron during a Monday appearance at Grove City College. She even had time to talk about acceptance on the hill.

"Women in the private sector have been great," said the 39-year-old congresswoman from northern Allegheny County. "The women on the hill have been good. Some have been snipers, but that's just the way they are."

That may be because Hart is considered a rising star in the GOP and has made a name for herself since winning a state Senate seat in 1990. While there, she served on the powerful Finance Committee, spending some time as chairman. In the 2000 election, Hart became the first Republican to represent the 4th District in a quarter-century. In Washington, she serves on the Financial Services, Judiciary and Science committees and is vice chair of the Constitution and Energy subcommittees.

Hart said her biggest challenge since being elected is not knowing what she'll need to know next.

"There are things that I'll figure out, read about them and try to understand them, and then understand what other people are thinking," Hart said. "Every morning it's something new. One day concerns of the constituents will be about their HMO. The next day it'll be something the president needs."

A big issue for the students seemed to be the future of Social Security. Hart said the country "needs Social Security reform before it falls apart."

"We have to find a way to give the money back," Hart said. "We have to find a way to beef up peoples' accounts."

Hart would like to see this done by diversifying methods of investment. Currently, the government purchases Treasury bills with the money and gets little return. She would like to "find a way to get a maximum return" through stocks, bonds and other investments.

Hart made a point to tell the crowd that Bush has done what many in the media and government didn't think he could do -- be a leader.

"The media tried to do a job on him, make him seem like he wasn't bright," Hart said. "What he ended up doing, the expectations were so low, his level of respect rose early on. He's shown he's able to work with constituents that people didn't expect he'd be able to, like the steelworkers and Teamsters unions. He's very adept at working with all sorts of people. The man is very sincere and intuitive. That's helped a lot.

"The issues we're dealing with as a nation are extremely important," Hart said. "It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Congress and the president evolves."

Possibly affecting that would be if anything comes out of Bush's relationship with Enron, the bankrupt billion-dollar corporation currently under investigation. Hart feels the Democrats see this as "an opportunity to turn President Bush's approval rating around" and a way to "shoot holes in his armor."

"They've degraded this into a ridiculous witch hunt among us (Republicans)," said Hart, who recieved a $500 contribution from the energy giant last year.

Hart is in a similar position, representing constituents that are from a heavily-Democratic district. She was elected by more than 40,000 votes in a district that was about 58 percent Democratic.

"The election was the tough part," Hart said. "As far as service, my staff does a great job of keeping their eyes open to the needs of the constituents and to see who's trying to trip you up and run against you. There are a lot of people interested in what I'm going to do. There are a lot of considerations during election time and you try to be as bipartisan as possible the rest of the time."

Hart and her staff will now have their eyes on Mercer County. Thanks to congressional redistricting, the 4th District now includes Farrell, West Middlesex, Shenango Township and part of the city of Hermitage. The remapped district also has a slight Republican registration edge.

The rest of the county will remain in the district currently represented by Congressman Phil English, Erie, who once worked for Hart in the state Senate.