With Congress out of session this week, I had the opportunity to hear from people all across our community on a wide range of issues. I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who attended a meeting, joined our town hall or hosted me at their business.

Our town hall meeting on Friday lasted more than 4 hours and I stayed to answer every single question. While everyone didn't always agree on every single issue, I believe having the conversation is critical.

In addition to our town hall, I met with more than 25 different local groups and organizations to discuss issues ranging from healthcare to our environment. Each of these provided an opportunity to hear a new perspective on an issue, and I'm eager to tackle these priorities in Congress.

I also met with many of our local county commissioners to ensure the priorities of our counties are being heard in Washington, including cleaning our local waterways and keeping our communities safe.