This past week, I had the opportunity to meet with nearly 300 local elected officials who join me in representing the two cities, 21 counties and 39 towns that make up Virginia’s Fifth District.

It is an honor to work alongside these state senators, delegates, board of supervisors members, city and town council members, school board members, first responders, local law enforcement officers and other constitutional officers to serve the fine people we represent, and I am grateful that I once again had the opportunity to thank our dedicated public servants for all that they do.

As has been the case for far too long, it is clear that Washington is still too often standing in the way of a robust economic recovery. Every day, our local leaders see first-hand how top-down policies, like the Dodd-Frank Act, harm our Main Street businesses and family farms.

Our local leaders balance their budgets, knowing that they cannot spend more than what they take in, yet they watch Washington fail to come together to make the difficult choices necessary to bring about fiscal responsibility and fear that state and local services will suffer the consequences of Washington’s recklessness.

I remain committed to taking these concerns back to Washington and advocating for policies that follow the example set by of our state and local officials in working for commonsense solutions and balanced budgets. That is a spirit of cooperation — acting on common sense for the common good — that our shared constituents expect and deserve.

I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan way to initiate policies that make life easier for our small businesses and family farms, as well as ensuring or local law enforcement and firstu responders are afforded the necessary means to continue to keep our communities safe.

Robert Hurt, a Republican, represents Lunenburg County in the U.S. House of Representatives. He can be reached at his Farmville office at (434) 395-0120.