Representative Rick Allen

ICYMI: Congressman Allen Holds Telephone Town Hall

WASHINGTON – Congressman Rick W. Allen (GA-12) held a telephone town hall Tuesday night to answer questions from residents of Georgia's 12th District. Congressman Allen provided an update on Russia’s war against Ukraine, the crisis at our border, the threat posed by China, and more. For those who were unable to participate in the call, here are some of the highlights:

Lyn from Dublin asked about securing our Southern Border.

Congressman Allen: “I’m a cosponsor of the Finish the Wall Act that requires the Biden Administration to complete construction of the southern border wall, and [requires] them to enforce the law [that is on the books].

“The wall was authorized but only some of the funding was ever appropriated, in fact President Trump had to find money to build it, Congress needs to appropriate the money and Congress needs to pass comprehensive immigration reform… Yet we cannot get the Democrats to help us at all so that is where we are on immigration reform.”

Jimmy from Evans asked about holding Russia accountable for their invasion of Ukraine.

Congressman Allen: “The first thing that we need to do is quit buying Russian oil… in other words if we were energy independent -- if we had the [keystone] XL pipeline -- we would be able to get our heavy crude out of Canada… we would be energy independent and would not be funding this war.

“Putin needs to be charged immediately with war crimes, he is purposefully killing innocent women and children -- we have proof of that and it needs to stop. The world needs to… eliminate them from the table at United Nations … and yes we stand with the Ukrainian people.”

Glenn from Metter asked about areas for bipartisanship in Congress.

Congressman Allen: "As ranking member of the [House Education & Labor] Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, I’ve asked the Chairman if there’s something we can do on a bipartisan basis. We are working on some changes and revisions that would enhance Americans’ ability to increase retirement savings.

“This committee is working on H.R. 5891 – the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement – or the RISE Act. We think that we are going to get this out of committee and on the House floor.”

Gregory from Sylvania asked about ensuring secure elections.

Congressman Allen: “I have good news on the voter front. Our state legislature, which we want to maintain their authority over our elections… as the Constitution provides. Our state legislators last year reformed our voting system… making it equal representation under the Constitution on both voting in person and absentee voting… Let me tell you something else that might surprise you. You have more opportunities to vote in Georgia than you do in the President’s home state of Delaware. So he needs to stay out of Georgia and go worry about Delaware.”

Becky from Evans asked about improving our health care system.

Congressman Allen: “We are working right now feverishly on what we call The Healthy Future Task Force and I’m glad that you called and gave your opinion on that because we are trying to listen to the American people, providers, nurses, and think tanks around the country that are talking about how to improve this process. And I happen to be the Ranking Member on the Health Employment, Labor and Pension subcommittee that covers employer-sponsored healthcare plans.

“As far as the business community, they are making strides but the problem that we have is Medicare pretty much sets a price for everything…. And the regulatory process to get a drug approved in this country, you cannot believe how many buildings you can fill up with documentation and administrative paperwork. We want the drugs to be safe, but what you have to go through to get something approved in this day and time, we saw it with the vaccines. President Trump was told that it was going to take 5 to 7 years and he went direct to the providers and said how do we do this. And we got a vaccine in about six months and went through all the trials that you have to go through. So there’s ways to get this done… My goal is to restore a patient-centered, cost-effective solution and market driven solution in the healthcare system-- and guess what, if we can send a man to the moon then we can do this.”

If you would like to sign up for the next telephone town hall, please sign up here.