Building Safer Communities

We all benefit when we encourage closer ties between law enforcement and the communities they serve. This week, President Trump signed an executive order on safe policing that promotes better training, more transparency, and new accountability. Safer policing means safer communities, and I commend President Trump for taking this important action to unite our country while supporting the many brave men and women who serve in law enforcement.

The executive order includes many important provisions, including:

The DOJ will certify independent organizations to provide accreditation to police departments on de-escalation, use of force, and community engagement.
Accredited organizations will look at law enforcement agencies’ policies on use of force.
A new system will be created to allow police departments to share information about incidents of excessive force.
Information sharing will be encouraged as certain discretionary DOJ grants will be contingent on police departments sharing that information.

Supporting Georgia’s Farmers

This week, Robin and I had the privilege of volunteering at the Georgia Grown To Go event in Augusta. Thanks to the Georgia Department of Agriculture and Georgia Grown, this event helps to alleviate the strain COVID-19 placed on our supply chain while supporting our hard-working farmers.

Fresh, in-season produce was available for safe pick up via a drive-thru market at the James Brown Arena, and a portion of the sales will go to a local non-profit. Overall, they were able to sell 10,000 boxes!

Ensuring Our Students Safely Return to School in the Fall

This week, I traveled to Washington as the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to assess the impact COVID-19 on education.

As the Lead Republican on the K-12 Subcommittee, my priority is ensuring our students can safely return to school in the fall. I believe we must also address spending so we don’t leave these very students with an insurmountable amount of national debt. You can watch here.

Small Business Assistance

Several financial resources are available for GA-12 small business owners who were impacted by COVID-19, including:

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reopened the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and EIDL Advance program portal this week to all eligible applicants who have been impacted by COVID-19. To access the portal, click here.
The PPP loan forgiveness process should be efficient and borrower-friendly, which is why I sent a letter to the Small Business Administration and Treasury urging them to revise the application. SBA released a revised borrower-friendly Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness application, which can be accessed here.
SBA also released a new EZ forgiveness application, which you can access here, that requires fewer calculations and applies to borrowers who are:

Self-employed and have no employees, or
Did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%, and did not reduce the number or hours of their employees, or
Experienced reductions in business activity as a result of health directives related to COVID-19, and did not reduce the salaries or wages of their employees by more than 25%.

ICYMI: Perspecta, a leading U.S. government services provider, is opening a regional office at the Georgia Cyber Center in Augusta

This is great news as U.S. Army Cyber Command continues its transition to Fort Gordon, and it will create 178 new jobs! You can read more here.

Last month, we learned that Planned Parenthood wrongly applied for and received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds. In April, I joined my colleagues in sending a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) urging them to exclude Planned Parenthood from any loan eligibility through the PPP.

That’s why I’m proud to be an original cosponsor of H.R. 7211, the Limiting Infant Fatality and Empowering Nonprofit Organization Workforces (LIFE NOW) Act, which makes it clear abortion providers are ineligible to receive any taxpayer dollars under the Paycheck Protection Program.

As always, my office is here to help. You can email me ⇒ HERE, contact any of our offices or join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Sincerely,

Rick Allen
Member of Congress