Up & Coming Weekly

February 19, 2019

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM FEBRUARY 20-26, 2019 UCW 9 Choosing greatness for North Carolina and America by REP. RICHARD HUDSON OPINION Recently, the world watched as President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union address. In his speech, the president highlighted important accomplishments of his first two years in office and showed a desire to work together to address the difficult issues our nation continues to face. As we enter into a divided Congress, I thought Trump struck the appropriate tone when he said, "Together we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America's future." While there are some who continue to sow divisiveness in our country, the president asked us all to "choose greatness" and called on Congress to work together for the common good of our country and our constituents. From my first day in Congress, I've worked hard to find bipartisan solu- tions, and I remain committed to working with anyone — Republican, Democrat or Independent — to pro- vide for the brave men and women at Fort Bragg, improve care for our veter- ans and lower the cost of health care and improve access for all Americans. One reason I'm hopeful of the work we can do is because we've already accomplished quite a bit over the last two years. We've rebuilt our mili- tary from years of devastating cuts, combated the opioid epidemic to help our friends and neighbors, cut taxes for working families, reformed the Department of Veterans Affairs to give our veterans better care and more choices, and ignited the economy so more jobs are coming back to America instead of going overseas. In January, we were greeted with a nationwide unemployment rate of 4 percent after adding 5.3 million jobs since the 2016 election. is is the 11th consecutive month with an unemployment rate at or below 4 percent. As more people head back to work, we have seen historic lows of unemployment across almost all demographics, including among African-Americans, whose unemploy- ment rate is the lowest since 1972. And, come April 15, the increased Child Tax Credit will allow parents to get an extra $1,000 on their tax returns — double the credit from 2017. If that's not real progress, I don't know what is. As a voice for veterans and a repre- sentative of Fort Bragg, I was also glad to see Trump highlight the impor- tance of a strong national defense and re-up his commitment to our troops and their families both during and after their service. Finally, the president laid out a strong stance on immigration, call- ing for Democrats and Republicans to come to the table in a bipartisan manner during his State of the Union. I think it's just plain common sense that we must do everything we can to stop human trafficking, the flow of drugs and illegal immigration across our border. is is an issue that Re- publicans and Democrats have put off for 30 years — the time to act is now. e American people are counting on us to deliver on our promises on these issues and much more. Together as a nation we can — and must — choose greatness. And while there are a lot of issues that divide our country, I will always believe that we can come together for the good of the nation. REP. RICHARD HUDSON, R-NC. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. In his State of the Union address, President Trump called for Americans to choose greatness.

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