As we begin 2016, I want to wish you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! I hope you had an exciting beginning to 2016.

This New Year’s Eve was unlike any other in the Hudson household — I was fortunate to spend it here in North Carolina with my wonderful wife and our baby boy, Lane. Renee and I enjoyed spending time with him and talking about our goals for the New Year, though I doubt Lane will stick to his resolution of sleeping through the night.

As your representative in Congress, I will return to Washington this week for the second session of the 114th Congress. I pledge that I will continue to work to find common-sense solutions to the problems we face and make real progress in changing the direction of our country. I remain committed to serving your interests as I am faced with tough decisions as well as providing our district top-notch constituent services.

While the economy and jobs are at the forefront of my agenda, I also recognize the need to halt the harmful effects of Obamacare. On top of creating a part-time economy by eliminating the 40-hour work week, Obamacare is forcing hard-working Americans to deal with rising health care costs, restricted access and canceled insurance plans.

We can do better, and this year I will continue to fight to replace Obamacare with reforms that return freedom, choice and control back to you and your family.

Specifically, Congress will pass legislation this week that repeals key parts of Obamacare, providing families and small businesses relief and making this harmful law crumble like a house of cards. In addition, this legislation will address another one of my goals to place a moratorium on funding for Planned Parenthood while redirecting those funds to community health centers.

This is a critical step to protect the unborn and ensure our tax dollars committed to women’s health are used to give women access to health care — not to abort and traffic babies. I’m looking forward to finally placing these two important priorities on the president’s desk and making him choose between protecting the American people or protecting his liberal agenda.

In addition to these goals, I remain committed to moving the American SAFE Act — my bill that passed the House with a veto-proof majority — through the Senate. This is a common-sense bill to stop the president’s plan to admit thousands of refugees from Syria and Iraq until there is stronger, reliable vetting. It’s imperative that we pass the legislation into law to keep terrorists out of our country and the American people safe.

While we had a successful 2015, there is still a lot of work to be done and it’s important that I continue to hear directly from you. Bureaucrats in Washington don’t care about the same things you and I do, but you can trust me to fight for our shared priorities and the principles we hold dear.

I deeply value your input and feedback, and I will continue to listen to your concerns and work as hard as I can to represent our like-minded values. Please continue to call, write letters and email me at Hudson.house.gov.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-Concord, represents North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District, which includes Anson County.

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Richard Hudson

Contributing Columnist