The approach of Hurricane Matthew reduced the crowd for the 2016 Screven County Fish Fry but did not prevent two Republican members of Congress from speaking and about 100 other people from coming to hear them and eat the fish.

Rep. Rick Allen, R-Georgia 12th District, and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina 2nd District, spoke at the event last Thursday evening at the Pathway Center near Sylvania. The supper continued a 19-year tradition, with some past installments having been called 12th District GOP Fish Fries. This year’s advertised only county status, but people from all over the district were invited.

Back in 2013 when Allen and another Republican were starting a primary race for the 12th District seat, about 300 people heard them speak at the fish fry. In 2014, Allen spoke at the event again, predicting his victory in that November’s election weeks before he captured the seat from John Barrow, the Democrat who represented the district in Congress for 10 years.

“It’s just been two years now, almost two years, where we experienced victory and took back the 12th District, and it was a long time coming. …,” Allen told the group Thursday. “…  Obviously we won, but we’ve got a ways to go in Washington.”

‘Back to work’

He touted several goals he said he shares with the Republican leadership, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan. The goal Allen spent the most time on is job creation, which he said can be pursued through reducing regulations, reforming the tax system and providing a skilled workforce.

“There’s no way this country is going to survive unless we get people back to work. …,” Allen said. “You know, we can take care of about 10 percent of the population, and you know, biblically, we probably need to do that, because God created folks that need help, and we need to help them, but we can’t take care of 25 percent of the population – 46 million people. Just 10 years ago, it was only 28 million people.”

The 46 million that Allen referred to as the number of Americans on federal assistance is similar to a counts of Americans on “food stamps,” officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, cited by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture chart, at www.fns.usda.gov, an average of 44.3 million people were enrolled in SNAP each month during fiscal year 2016, but this number has declined since a peak of 47.6 million in 2013.

With the U.S. population now estimated at 324.6 million by the U.S. Census Bureau at www.census.gov/popclock, about 14 percent of Americans receive SNAP – not 25 percent. But that doesn’t include other forms of assistance.

A large share of federal tax dollars goes to “mandatory spending,” and welfare programs make up a big chunk of that, Allen said. He maintains that these have not lifted Americans out of poverty and have exacerbated a sluggish economy.

Allen called national security the number-one priority, and then said the federal government “can’t fund the 21st century military” with annual economic growth now less than 2 percent.

“Everybody in this room knows how to grow the economy,” Allen said. “It’s regulatory reform, it’s tax reform and it’s a skilled workforce.”

A surplus possible?

Instead of having a vision for what it needs to do, the government “tries to be everything to everybody,” he said. But in January, members of Congress consulted experts in various fields, from job creation to working with people in poverty to national defense, in a strategic planning effort, Allen said.

Experts, he said, told them a 4 to 5 percent growth rate is achievable. That kind of growth, he suggested, could eliminate the deficit for a time and begin to reduce the national debt.

“If it grows between 4 and 5 percent you create 10 million jobs,” Allen said. “If you create 10 million jobs, we’ll have a $200 billion surplus. That’s temporary, but we’d have a $200 billion surplus in our budget in Washington. That’s how quick we could turn it.”

Allen has nominal opposition on the Nov. 8 ballot. The name of Patricia C. McCracken of Augusta appears as the Democratic nominee, but she has not campaigned.  So Allen’s comments were directed not so much at his own re-election, as at electing Trump.

‘Lawless country’

After referring to the United States as having been founded on Judeo-Christian values, Allen said it has become a lawless country.

“God created and ordained government – and I learned this in a Bible study just three weeks ago – for one reason and one reason only, and that was to restrain evil,” he said. “Folks, we are a lawless country, you don’t have to look long at the television to see it.”

Allen said he expresses support for law enforcement officers every chance he gets because he believes respect for them is at an all-time low. Then he alluded to Trump and vice presidential running mate Mike Pence’s “law and order” campaign theme.

“We need a law-and-order president, and I think by the grace of God we got one – a potential one,” Allen said.

At the fish fry, Wilson wasn’t campaigning for himself, either. Although he has opposition from both a Democrat and an American Party challenger Nov. 8, his district is across the Savannah River in South Carolina. He represents Aiken, Barnwell and areas near Orangeburg and Columbia.

A real estate attorney, Wilson was first elected to Congress in 2001. He served 21 years in the Army Reserve and National Guard, training each summer at Fort Stewart, and now serves on the House Armed Services Committee, chairing its Emerging Threats Subcommittee, as well as on the Education and Workforce Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee.

“Georgia is so important in a presidential race,” Wilson told the group of mostly eastern-Georgia Republicans. “Mr. Trump, we know, will make a difference to help cut taxes, create jobs, strong national defense, make good appointments, positive appointments to adhere to the Constitution of the United States on the Supreme Court.”

The fish fry was organized by Osal and Margaret Evans of Sylvania and sponsored by the Screven County Republican Party and various local citizens who contributed.

Statesboro Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.