Roby Vigorously Supports Armed Forces
October 2015
By David Zaslawsky
After being introduced as “a fierce advocate for the military,” U.S. Rep. Martha Roby showed why she deserved that moniker during her speech at a Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce event.
“Our enemies are watching; they are watching what Congress is going to do right here in the next several months as we look toward full implementation of the sequester at the first of the year.”Roby, R-Montgomery, made an impassioned plea to adequately fund the military and provide timely health care for veterans. Speaking at an Eggs & Issues event at the RSA Activity Center, the third-term representative said that the country cannot wait for a new administration “to do what we have to do to ensure that our men and women that wear the uniform … are the best trained; that they have everything they need when we send them into harm’s way.
She reminded the attendees that she voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011, which established automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs. Roby called it “shameful” to put a budget “on the backs of our military. We’ve got to come up with a better way instead of 50 percent mandatory cuts that we’re looking at. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed in our leaders, that they’ve waited … until this 11th hour to take this issue on. We have to come up with a way to ensure that our military families know that we’ve got their backs.”
Roby saved her harshest comments for the continued mishandling of health care for veterans, who are still waiting more than 90 days to see a physician. “It’s disheartening to me what we have done and how we have treated our veterans. We have made promises that we must keep and if we can’t get it right by our veterans – we might as well hang it up.”
She said she is “tired of asking” for a permanent director for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “We need leadership at the VA so we can start implementing the changes that are needed to ensure that our veterans get the best health care that we can give them in a timely fashion,” Roby said.
The former Montgomery City Councilwoman has proposed a bill that would enable the Veterans Department to take over the worst veteran health care facilities in the country – those that fall at the bottom 3 percent.
She also asked members of the audience to help “develop a greater partnership to bridge the gap and build trust between outside providers and the VA.” One of the issues affecting such a partnership is the VA not paying outside providers on a timely basis, Roby said. “There is a lot of work to do,” Roby said about the health care treatment of veterans.
On other issues, Roby:
> Blasted the Iran nuclear deal saying, “No deal is better than a very, very bad deal and this is a very bad deal.” She said that inspections on Iran’s nuclear program are not immediate and fears that lifting economic sanctions and permitting the Iranians to sell oil “puts cash into the hands” of a country that sponsors terrorism.
> Criticized former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the email controversy and that the House Select Committee on Benghazi has been thwarted from doing its job because it lacks access to materials. Roby insisted that the committee’s mission was fact finding and was not politically motivated although Clinton is running for president. The committee’s charge “is to find out the truth on behalf of four Americans who unnecessarily lost their lives. Americans deserve to know the truth about what happened before, during and after the attack.”
> Opposes any federal funds for Planned Parenthood after controversial videos were widely aired.
