Martha Roby: Turning election energy into results 

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It has now been just a week since the 2016 election, which will certainly go down as one of the most consequential in modern American history. In the early morning hours when the race was finally called, I offered my sincere congratulations to President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, and expressed how eager I was to get to work putting our country back on track.

There’s no question that in electing Donald Trump President and maintaining Republican majorities in the House and Senate, Americans sent a clear message that we must turn away from the top-down, big-government, Washington-knows-best approach of the Obama era to a more conservative, sustainable path. After six years in Congress of playing defense against the Obama Administration, I’m looking forward to playing offense with a Republican-led House, Senate, and White House and hopefully being able to get more done. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve another term and, no matter what, I will continue fighting on behalf of the people of the Second District and maintaining my focus on the issues that matter to you.

I have been asked many times lately what I believe are the most important issues facing our country as we move forward. From my perspective, our most pressing issue is stopping the financial squeeze that so many middle class families are facing. One takeaway from this election I want to press with Republican leadership in Congress is how so many working people feel marginalized in a country where the outcomes seem predetermined and the deck is stacked against them. Whether it is on trade or taxes or immigration or health care, we need to be crafting policies that address the real problems facing the American worker and their families. I feel like sometimes we talk a lot about how conservative policies will help the person that owns the factory, but we need to spend more time explaining how they will benefit the men and women working inside it. I’m eager to carry that message back to Washington.

On health care, I’m looking forward to being in a position to finally deliver patient-centered reforms that offer more choices, lower costs, and more flexibility. On taxes, I believe perhaps the fastest way to improve economic conditions for all Americans is to deliver a simpler, fairer, flatter tax code. We can jumpstart job growth by lowering taxes for everyone while making the code more competitive for businesses and more workable for American families. It is also critically important that we get our fiscal house in order. We need to pass a budget that puts our country on a path to balance, and we need to set strict spending priorities that are more transparent and accountable to the people we represent.

There are so many other priorities to work on: strengthening border security and enhancing immigration laws; continuing improvements to veterans services; reversing cuts to our military and building up readiness; pursuing more sustainable agriculture policies – the list could go on.

There’s no doubt the election was consequential. Our task now is to turn that election energy into actual results,  making sure the new conservative governing majority delivers meaningful solutions that address real problems Americans are facing.

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Marta Roby represents Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama with her husband Riley and their two children.

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