Late last month, Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) shocked many when she announced she would not be seeking reelection in 2020. However, the five-term congresswoman has vowed to finish out her tenure working to achieve priorities on infrastructure and immigration.
During an appearance on Huntsville, AL radio’s WVNN on Thursday, Roby lamented the current distractions in the Democrat-led House of Representatives.
“It has been unbelievable to watch because of all of these distractions — there has been very little room to do work on behalf of the American people,” she said on “The Jeff Poor Show.” “And at the end of the day, we have a lot of big issues that we need to be tackling for our country. And unfortunately, the majority has chosen to focus on different issues that quite frankly are not helpful to the American people.”
On immigration, the Alabama Republican insisted border security should be at the top of the list for fixing the U.S. immigration system.
“[I]f you have a leak in your house, you don’t go and replace the drywall until you fix the leak,” Roby said. “And that’s been my approach with immigration. Yes, we have a badly broken immigration system. But I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times — this process has to begin with securing our border. As you know, back in September, we put aside a down payment on physical barriers at the southern border. But we all want to see a bigger investment in that effort. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how that process moves in the months ahead.”
“But if you’ll remember last Congress, we had legislation that was put on the floor in the House, and we were unable to get the votes to pass that took on some of the real issues in our immigration system,” she continued. “And so far, the proposals coming from the other side do not align with the belief of the people, the majority of the people I represent.”
Roby said calling the border situation a “crisis” was a proper assessment.
“Fixing our immigration system and securing our border, which is like I said — we have to secure our border,” she added. “This remains a top priority for me. But we also have to recognize in a divided government we’re going to have to work particularly hard to get a win in this area. We’re going to continue to push for it as a priority.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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