Representative Rick Allen

icymi: congressman allen hosts telephone town hall

In case you missed it, Congressman Rick W. Allen (GA-12) held a telephone town hall earlier this week to answer questions from residents across Georgia’s 12th District. More than 3,400 constituents joined Monday’s call where Congressman Allen provided updates on current issues, legislation he is leading in the 119th Congress, and more. For those unable to participate in the call, here are some of the highlights:

Clint from Sylvania asked about disaster relief for farmers:

Congressman Allen: "Back in December when we passed the CR to continue funding the government, we passed the American Relief Act of 2025. It was signed into law on December 21, 2024, and it provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than $30 billion to deliver disaster recovery assistance to farmers and livestock producers. $10 billion in direct economic assistance to agricultural producers was announced on March 18, and farmers can go to your local FSA office right now to sign up for those direct payments. On May 7, USDA announced plans to expedite the remaining $21 billion in disaster assistance, which is dealing with the hurricane and other disasters...Rest assured, I will remain in contact with Georgia's Agriculture Commissioner, Tyler Harper, as well as USDA, to work to expedite the release of the remaining ag disaster relief funds needed for our farmers to recover from both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Debbie."

Jeffrey from Bulloch County asked about what Congress is doing to combat robocalls:

Congressman Allen: "The Energy and Commerce Committee recently had a hearing on stopping these illegal robocalls. We have regulations dealing with these types of calls. But there are bad actors out there. And from that hearing, we were told that they know who the bad actors are. But what we've got to do is strengthen [regulations] so that they can actually indict these people and put them behind bars..."

Glenn from Metter asked about issues at the VA:

Congressman Allen: "What I see is that the VA just circulates the same people. And what I believe we need to do for our veterans is go out and get people who have run successful hospital operations, that have created great customer service and great patient care, and recruit those folks to run these VA centers. And then give them the authority to deal with employees who aren't taking good care of our veterans. And there are a number of those. Thank you, sir, and thank you for your service."

Leonard from Screven County asked about cutting wasteful government spending:

Congressman Allen: "We're voting this week on nine billion dollars in what we call rescissions. We call them rescissions because [we're voting on the spending cuts the White House] is sending us. It's unfathomable that people do not want to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse in anything, and particularly, the federal government."

David from Augusta asked about the potential closure of the USPS substation located at Surrey Center Pharmacy:

Congressman Allen: "We met with them. They read us a contract. And the contract says that they could terminate the contract, either the government or a service center at any point in time. Well, that's one thing. But you've got to have a reason for termination. And guess what? They didn't have one. And I said, you better bring me data. And you better bring me numbers...But these post offices in businesses like Surrey Center are flourishing. It's very little cost to the post office. I mean, it's absolutely crazy that they would do something like this. And like I said, they better provide me with a good reason...But we are meeting with them, and we're doing everything we can to stop it."

Heather from Augusta asked about rogue district court judges:

Congressman Allen: "[We have legislation that would stop federal judges] from stopping the entire executive administrative operations of the Office of the President. A federal district cannot have the authority to shut down the whole country. We're going to fix that in legislation and codify it into law."

If you’d like to participate in future Telephone Town Halls, please sign-up HERE.