Congressman Tim Walberg at Heritage Foundation, originally uploaded by Rob Bluey.

Rep. Tim Walberg was the featured guest at today’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing at the Heritage Foundation. Walberg, who toppled liberal Republican Joe Schwarz in the GOP primary last year, is one of only 13 Republican freshmen elected last November. He brings to Washington a solid record as a state legislator and businessman.

Although he’s only been a member of Congress for one month, Walberg has made it a point to reach out to bloggers. He spent time with a group of us at the Heritage Foundation’s Conservative Members Retreat in Baltimore, and he reached out a larger group today.

Walberg said bloggers played an important role during his campaign — in both the primary and general election. He said he reads blogs daily, and his aides, Chief of Staff Joe Wicks and Press Secretary Matt Lahr, regularly circulate material from blogs to him. Walberg urged the group to embrace the technology as a way of keeping the news media in check and the Republican Party focused on conservative issues.

On the issues, Walberg said he‚Äôs committed to reducing government spending — a potent issue in his campaign against Walberg, which attracted national attention from the Club for Growth. He said the GOP had grown fat and lazy while in power, and in order to return to power, the party must first embrace the ideas and issues that brought it to power in 1994.

I asked him about the 2008 presidential field, and while Walberg said he’s keeping his powder dry, he had praise for former Gov. Mitt Romney (who launched his presidential bid in Walberg’s home state today) and Sen. Sam Brownback. Both attended the Michigan Republican Party convention this past week. Even though Sen. John McCain didn’t make the convention, Walberg said McCain wrapped himself around former President Ronald Reagan.

Bloggers also heard from Robert Shea about progress on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, better known as the Coburn-Obama legislation. An interim website will be online Thursday. Stay tuned for more details. Shea encouraged bloggers to offer their feedback.