On this date in 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Georgia’s 12th Congressional District, Rick Allen, who after being elected for the first time in the 2014 elections, quickly made himself infamous in Washington for an outburst he made that pissed off even his fellow Republicans back in May of this year, when a week after Democrats cried foul after Republicans flipped their votes in support of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prevented government contractors from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, a second version passed with 43 Republicans actually supporting the idea. In the wake of that vote, Speaker Paul Ryan tried to gather many members of the GOP House, where Rick Allen pulled out his Bible, and read Scripture to those present, specifically passages from Romans 1:18-32, and Revelations 22:18-19, that in effect read that gays are sinners “worthy of death”. At that point, several of his colleagues stormed out, disgusted (and they should be).
Well, Rick Allen went viral because after the tragic shooting in Orlando just days later, as some were calling for some action, ANY action on gun control, the GOP offered their usual support to victims… their thoughts and prayers. In this instance, that came off as a lot of hollow bulls*** in particular because Rick Allen was one such person who got on social media to let those mourning know he was thinking and praying about it. To which, some of the victims had to wonder, “So what, are you praying that more of us die, then?” Allen was asked if he regretted or wanted to apologize for his remarks about the gays being “worthy of death”, and surprise… he didn’t regret them at all and stood by his decision to read them at that Republican meeting.
So it should come as little surprise that Rep. Allen spent his first term in office voting for anti-choice legislation without exceptions for rape and incest, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the bill to attempt to halt the resettling of Syrian refugees in the United States. But when you come from a conservative district in Georgia, the voters won’t pay attention to any of that or sweat that or the fact that you quoted Bible verses about gays being worthy of death, and they’ll re-elect you with 59% of the vote. His third term in office, is already starting to look like the first two:
- January 27th, 2019: Rick Allen voted against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attacking our democracy. You see, he’s fine with our nation being sublet to Vladimir Putin.
- January 22nd, 2019: Allen votes against HR 676, which would prevent Donald Trump from doing the unthinkable and walking away from our allies in NATO to appease the Russians.
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Allen voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Rick Allen votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. Allen votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
- April 4th, 2019: Rick Allen is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- June 4th, 2019: Allen votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
We’ll continue to monitor Rick Allen, and see whether or not he expounds his opinions on what people deserve to live and die in other policy discussions.
One Year Ago, June 29th, 2018: Rick Allen (GA)… 2018 Update
Two Years Ago, June 29th, 2017: Rick Allen (GA)… 2017 Update
Three Year Ago, June 29th, 2016: Rick Allen (GA)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago, June 29th, 2015: Charlotte O’Hara (KS)