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We’ve had a good year in the Senate, and I’m pleased of the progress we’ve made on a number of bills important to the people of this district.

As millions of students and their parents prepare for life after commencement, they’re also preparing to deal with massive student loans. Increasingly, people are concerned about the student debt situation brewing on college campuses. The present state of student debt is not a pretty picture.

There are few things that bring me more pleasure as chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party than praising our state’s elected officials for focusing on truly meaningful reforms. Last week, members of our state Senate did just that.

On turning 60, George Washington wrote in letters to friends: “The time is not far distant when I must sleep with my Fathers.” I was a history student reading those words. My professors told me that Washington lacked Thomas Jefferson’s “peculiar felicity of expression.” Even though I was studying at Mr. Jefferson’s university, I found it hard not to feel the beauty of Washington’s words.

The recent discussion regarding the closing of some of our outlying University of South Carolina campuses, such as Lancaster and Union, concerns me.

World Hunger Day will be observed on May 28 throughout the world and nation. But sometimes, we need look no farther than our own backyards to realize that many of our neighbors, young and old, feel hunger on a daily basis.

Apparently, some people are using the current state of affairs in Washington to suggest that our government has become completely untrustworthy and unresponsive.

Do you wonder why we have the problems in Washington that we do? Here is a good example.

When two senators recently got into a spat over whether the Boston Marathon bombings were being politicized, the news was everywhere within minutes. Reams of commentary quickly followed. In the maneuvering over gun-control legislation, every twist and turn was instantly reported and then endlessly debated. As the effects of the federal sequester start to make themselves felt, outlets in every medium — print, television, online — are carrying both the news and the inevitable partisan sniping over its meaning.

You don’t have to drive far in our Senate district to see that our roads are in need of a major overhaul, and I have introduced a bill to get us on the right track.