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 the National Defense Authorization Act, vaccine mandates, the supply chain crisis, and more. For those who were unable to participate in the call, here are some of the highlights:

Darryl from Montgomery County asked about the IRS plan to monitor Americans’ bank transactions.

Congressman Allen: “The Build Back Better bill will provide $80 billion over 10 years for increased IRS enforcement funding. So what they are going to do is go out and harass taxpayers to get additional revenue to fund these horrible programs... Signed into law, the Build Back Better bill would require financial institutions to report individual account transaction information for a vast majority of Americans, not just those that there may be a reason to believe are out of tax compliance.

“On September 29^th, House Republicans called a vote to prohibit the IRS from implementing this proposal, which I supported. I’m also a sponsor of my Georgia colleague Representative Drew Ferguson’s bill, The Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act, which would also prohibit the IRS from implementing any form of the Biden Administration‘s aggressive bank surveillance."

Geraldine from Waynesboro asked about holding China accountable.

Congressman Allen: “We depend on China for certain critical products, like our medicines and other things… Under President Trump, what we wanted to do was move the manufacturing of all critical products – medicines and otherwise – to this country and really cut all ties with China. President Biden had a meeting with [ccp] Chairman Xi, and he has not released anything about what they talked about-- and he should be held accountable to the American people; did he in fact address these issues with the Chairman of the Communist Party? We don’t even know if he did. It is just terrible leadership, China needs to be held accountable. I will tell you this, President Trump had them on the run.

“China is basically ignoring their responsibility. I cannot imagine allowing a country to behave like this. Why other nations, including the United States, are not taking the position of investigating [the origins of COVID-19] and finding out what caused this, because China should pay… China should pay dearly for economic loss and economic hardship.”

Brandon from Evans asked about federal vaccine mandates.

Congressman Allen: "I joined all 50 GOP Senators and all 212 House Republicans in support of the Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the private business mandate -- that was the first thing that we did. There have been multiple lawsuits filed across this country in what we consider reasonable court districts, where we will get legitimate constitutional decisions and the court is where the highest likelihood of us quickly and successfully halting these mandates before they go into full effect.”

Kurt from Augusta asked about rising crime in cities across America.

Congressman Allen: “A group of very liberal, very lawless people are funding the election of not only state attorneys general, but local law enforcement and judicial officers throughout this country… We are a lawless land and it is being perpetrated by the Democratic Party. There are members of the Democratic Party who want to defund the police, and they have been successful doing that in certain areas of this country. Right now if you talk to… any of our officers, they are having a very difficult time finding personnel. There are shortages of law enforcement all over our district, and again it is being perpetrated by the anti-law enforcement movement in this country and it has got to stop.”

Sarah from Hephzibah asked about changes to Social Security.

Congressman Allen: “On October 13^th, the Social Security Administration announced seniors will receive a cost of living increase of 5.9 % for 2022. This increase will go into effect for January 2022. Please know that I will continue to work with my colleagues to improve social security and our economy.”

Enrique from Augusta asked about COVID-19 at the Southern Border.

Congressman Allen: “I joined my Republican colleagues and we sent a letter to the President requesting that he not repeal Title 42. That is a Trump Administration policy implemented in response to COVID-19 that prioritizes the health of American citizens by instructing [Customs and Border Protection] to reject entry of those unlawfully entering our country. That is also why I am a cosponsor of HR 471, the PAUSE ACT, to stop the massive influx of illegal immigrants at our Southern Border by requiring Title 42 to remain in effect… I have also signed a discharge position to bring this bill immediately to the House floor for a vote, which is our only mechanism as the minority party to bring legislation to the floor.”

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