Originally published in The Augusta Press.
The past month has been tumultuous for Washington, D.C. as the Middle East powder keg exploded and Congress was left rudderless with the early October ousting of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Representative Rick Allen (R-GA) has always preferred to work in the background, rather than hold press conferences, but he did agree to share his thoughts about the past month and his thoughts about moving forward both the nation and his party.
In terms of the unprecedented battle for the speakership of the House, which has now been settled with the election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as speaker, Allen, at first, gave the common political footsoldier rhetoric.
“This has been a challenging process, but I am ready to get back to work on the many issues facing our nation, and I believe Speaker Johnson is the right leader at the right time to advance our shared, conservative priorities on behalf of the American people,” Allen said.
However, when asked why he did not support House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) previously dropped out after failing to secure enough Republican support, Allen was more candid.
“I have great respect for Tom, but as you can imagine, his district in Minnesota is far different than mine here in Georgia. He has taken multiple votes that put him at odds with our district, which ultimately prevented me from supporting him in our closed-door candidate forum,” Allen said.
In the 2020 presidential election, Emmer broke with many of his Republican colleagues and voted to certify the election, earning him the wrath of former President Donald Trump who took credit for sidelining Emmer’s speakership.
The man who has been elected as speaker of the House has shown himself to be, by his voting record and his public comments, as an archconservative.
Allen says that he whole-heartedly supports the new speaker.
“Mike Johnson is a man of faith, a bold conservative and the leader we need to unite the Republican conference. I was proud to vote for Speaker Mike Johnson on the House floor earlier this week,” Allen said.
Israel has now begun a ground offensive in Gaza to root out members of the terror group Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in the Jewish homeland that killed 1,400 people.
Allen says that he always has and will continue to support Israel; however, he says that his support does not include issuing President Joe Biden a blank check in the matter.
The president has proposed a $100 billion spending package that includes aid to Israel and Gaza, as well as more funding to aid Ukrainians still fighting off a year-long Russian invasion.
“The conversation surrounding a supplemental appropriations bill is still very fluid. President Biden’s request for over $100 billion is a nonstarter, and House Republicans are currently focused on completing our work on the annual appropriations process,” Allen said.
In the midst of the Republican infighting between the Trump and anti-Trump wings, the Republicans have also fueled the tabloid press with the ongoing saga of George Santos (R-NY).
Once a rising star of the Republicans as the Right’s token LGBTQIA+ member, his colleagues quickly found out that he lied about his education and work experience and now faces a 23-count federal indictment for conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud.
Due to the razor-thin majority in the House, Republicans have largely been reluctant to address the Santos situation, and, on this matter, Allen toes the party line. He neither denounces Santos nor calls for him to resign, but instead refers the matter to Santos’ voters.
“As far as Representative Santos, the voters of his district elected him to represent them in Congress. In light of the allegations presented after his election, I believe the voters and the House Ethics Committee should help determine the best course of action,” Allen said.
