Dothan Eagle - Roby Says She Will Seek Third Term

News Article

By Lance Griffin

While Rep. Martha Roby said Tuesday that she has not yet made a formal announcement to seek re-election to represent Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, she does intend to run.

Roby said Tuesday she will seek a third term. Fundraising efforts are almost never out of cycle for House members who must run every two years, and a strong third quarter this year means Roby already has almost $500,000 cash on hand for the bid. In the third quarter alone, she raised $204,000.
Click here!

Roby, a Montgomery resident, addressed the Dothan Kiwanis Club on Tuesday and discussed a variety of issues including the rollout of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

"Train wreck," Roby said, referring to the disastrous launch of the Healthcare.gov website designed to assist citizens who wanted to sign up for government-managed health care.

Roby did, however, blame members of her own party for deflecting national attention away from the Obamacare launch due to the government shutdown.

Roby said this summer during her "Martha Listens" tour that she believed moving toward a government shutdown over Obamacare was poor strategy for Republicans.

"(The shutdown) got us nothing," Roby said, referring to concessions gained by Republicans during the shutdown.

"We have a plethora of other issues we could have used during the debt ceiling battle other than shutting down the government over Obamacare," Roby said.

Roby said better strategy would have been a stronger promotion of a Republican alternative to Obamacare that called for portability of plans across state lines, medical malpractice reform and more health savings account options.

"Let's learn a lesson from this, because we will be right back here Jan. 15," Roby said, referring to an upcoming deadline dealing with the funding of the government.

Roby touched on several issues during her speech to the Kiwanis Club, including:

» Fort Rucker: Roby acknowledged the drawing down of forces in Afghanistan could lead to changes that may affect Fort Rucker and/or Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.

"We know there will be changes, but we have to make sure that decisions that are being made are strategic decisions and that they are not budget driven," Roby said.

» Benghazi: Roby chairs a subcommittee within the House Armed Services Committee dealing with oversight and investigations. She convened several hearings dealing with the Sept. 11, 2012 deaths of a U.S. ambassador and others in Benghazi, Libya.

"I can tell you that no one single act of heroism could have changed the outcome of what happened that night," Roby said. "Actions before Sept. 10 affected us in not being able to be everywhere. We were not well positioned."

Roby said her subcommittee only deals with Department of Defense matters and does not have oversight over the CIA.

» The Farm Bill: Roby said a divide of about $36 billion exists in the amount of cuts proposed in dueling Farm Bills between the House and Senate. She has been appointed to a House/Senate conference committee to try to iron out the differences. Roby said the House Farm Bill proposed $40 billion in cuts in the "nutrition" portion of the Farm Bill which includes food stamps and other programs, while the Senate proposed only $4 billion in cuts.

» Compromise: Roby said the two parties need to learn the art of compromise.

"In Congress we now have a stalemate and a divide. You can compromise and find common ground without foregoing personal principles," Roby said. "You can't always be right on everything. Even though I think I am, you can't always be right."

Source