Roby speaks on education, military cuts, Paul Ryan

U.S. Rep. Martha Roby brought her “Meet with Martha” tour to Enterprise Aug. 14, speaking to residents at Cutts Restaurant.

“Mrs. Roby sits on the House agriculture, education and armed services committees,” said Mayor Kenneth Boswell in his introduction. “We appreciate her being here to give us an update on what’s going on in Washington.”

Roby led off her topics by discussing the Republicans newest vice presidential hopeful, Paul Ryan.

“I know Paul Ryan to be a very smart and articulate individual, who is in this to serve his country,” she said. “He is a friend and a colleague.”

Roby called presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s choice in running mate a bold and courageous one.

“Ryan projected some really strong solutions in his role as chairman of the budget committee,” Roby said. “Now we have framed the national debate on the issues. People want to know how we are going to turn this fiscal ship around.”

Roby described the country’s current situation as tumultuous, saying the impending automatic cuts from the Budget Control Act could have disastrous implications on our military.

“Last August when we were dealing with the debt ceiling increase, a 12-member committee was charged with finding $1.6 trillion in savings and they failed,” she said. “As a result of that, sequestration will take place in January if nothing is done.”

According to Roby, sequestration was written into the bill to make automatic cuts so the country could meet that dollar for dollar reduction in the debt ceiling it needed to avoid further fiscal problems.

“The problem is that 50 percent of those cuts come directly from the Department of Defense and we’re already working with $587 billion in defense cuts under current law,” Roby said. “It takes years to train an officer and we can’t snap our fingers and get back what we may lose from these cuts.”

Roby said it’s now the legislature’s job to find the cuts the joint committee was unable to.

“When we send our men or women into combat, we have to make sure they have everything they need to complete their mission,” she said.

Roby broached the subject of agriculture with an a recap of the 2012 Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Bill, which passed the House Agriculture Committee 35 to 11 on July 2.

“It’s not a perfect bill but it’s a responsible bill,” Roby said. “It cut the nutrition title and also provided a safety net for our famers in Alabama and across the country.”

According to Roby, the House Ag committee’s version of the 2012 bill increases the base price of peanuts, which levels the playing fields for farmers in peanut producing areas.

Roby said the House is currently in the progress of reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act.

However, she says actions by President Barack Obama and the Senate may leave the reauthorization “dead in the water,” by the time it’s considered for a vote.

“The president has gone around congress again,” she said. “He’s going to issue these waivers, which is just another way to not allow Congress to do their job.”

Roby also said she supports local control over education.

“I think our parents, principals and educators right here ought to be making the decisions and our bills reflect that,” she said. “Unfortunately, until we get some help in the Senate and maybe in the White House, that won’t change.”

Closing her address Roby stressed the importance of the eight legislative days Congress has scheduled between now and the end of the fiscal year.

“There are a lot of different things that are expiring that we’re going to have to take up between now and September 30,” she said. “I will certainly use all the tools we have in our office to let you know where that is going.”

For more information on the “Meet with Martha” tour or to contact Rep. Roby visit roby.house.gov.