by Jay Bookman, Georgia Recorder
July 17, 2025

Georgia’s 2026 Republican primary won’t be held until next May, but Sen. Jon Ossoff already knows who he’ll be running against: 

Donald Trump.

“Trump promised to attack a broken system. I get it: Ripe target,” Ossoff told a campaign crowd last week in Savannah. “But here’s the thing: He’s a crook, and a con man. And he wants to be a king.”

Way back in 2017, in his first congressional race, Ossoff failed to take on Trump directly and lost. It appears he won’t make that mistake again.

“Our fight is against deeply entrenched corruption and greed,” he told the crowd. “Corruption and greed that have so deeply rotted our system that it gave rise to this depraved man who has now plagued our public life for a decade.”

Georgia Republicans seem equally avid to make Trump the central issue of the 2026 midterms. The handful of declared and undeclared candidates for the GOP Senate nomination are unanimous in expressing their bottomless, unconditional loyalty to Trump, as they have to be. Anything Trump wants, they want. If he wants something entirely different tomorrow, tomorrow they will want that too.

And if they don’t see Trump as our king, they certainly aren’t going to say so right out loud, where people might hear them. It’s a mark of how far we’ve fallen that the act of saying “We’re Americans, and we don’t like kings” has become a partisan statement that half the candidates dare not utter for fear of angering their voters.

Even in state and local races, Trump and his policies are going to dominate the upcoming campaign season, in large part because of the passage of what Trump calls his “big, beautiful bill.” The scope and reach of that legislation are enormous, creating significant challenges for the Georgia economy and Georgia’s political leadership.

For example, the $1 trillion in cuts that the bill makes in Medicaid will, in time, strip health insurance from hundreds of thousands of Georgians, many of them living in rural areas of the state where hospitals, doctors and other health care providers are already having a tough time hanging on. Private insurance is scarce in those areas, and if government isn’t paying the health care bills, no one will and providers will disappear.

And if Congress also refuses to extend health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act by the end of the year, as seems likely, hundreds of thousands of additional Georgians will fall off the rolls of the insured, all to help finance major tax cuts for the wealthy.

The state of Georgia, with an estimated $15 billion in reserves, could help soften that blow. However, a Republican state leadership that has long refused to expand Medicaid, making Georgia one of only 10 states that still do so, isn’t likely to undergo some sudden change of heart to help less affluent constituents stay insured. That could become a major issue in next year’s campaign, from state legislative races to the competition for governor.

Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” also slashes support for electric vehicles and other renewable energy projects, with experts warning that it will raise utility bills in Georgia. Eventually, it will end up surrendering U.S. leadership in alternative energy development to China and other nations.

If fully implemented, that could undo the legacy that Gov. Brian Kemp had been attempting to build. During his two terms as governor, Kemp has spent much of his time and energy trying to transform Georgia into what he calls the capitol of electricity-driven transportation, not just for the nation but for the world. As a result of Trump’s legislation, however, a lot of those investments are not going to happen, and billion-dollar investments in battery plants and other infrastructure that are already in the ground here in Georgia, producing good-paying jobs, will have a much harder time staying afloat. (Trump’s chaotic tariffs and trade policy could compound the economic impact on Georgia, a state heavily invested in the logistics industry.)

Under another provision of that bill, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is given an additional $75 billion, which will allow it to more than double the number of agents it can put on the streets, from the current 6,000 to 16,000. The clear intention of the Trump regime is to greatly accelerate the pace of immigration raids, with immense consequences for the carpet industries of north Georgia, the construction and service industries of metro Atlanta and the agriculture industry of south Georgia.

As we’ve all witnessed, ICE has not exactly comported itself with reason, moderation or humanity in its mass deportation effort, and much of the Republican base is fine with that and wants even more. It’s hard to exert discipline or restraint on an agency that operates behind masks, which means no agents can be held accountable for their excesses and mistakes. In fact, no federal law-enforcement agency has ever behaved in such fashion in our nation’s history. As Ossoff noted in his Savannah speech, “Donald Trump wants the whole country to fear,” and the president is getting his wish.

“I’ve heard it from people at every level, including people with power, people with status, people with resources,” Ossoff said. “They come to my office, and they tell me they’re afraid to say anything. They’re afraid of retribution, investigation, destruction, vengeance from their own government.”

That’s not my America. Is it your America?

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

The post Bookman: Ossoff smartly focuses on Trump as 2026 campaigning cranks up appeared first on georgiarecorder.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning

This article presents a clear ideological stance critical of former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s policies, especially regarding healthcare, energy, immigration, and governance. The language is strongly oppositional, describing Trump as a “crook” and “con man,” and framing Republican leadership as loyal to an authoritarian “king.” It emphasizes negative impacts of Republican policies on vulnerable populations and the environment, highlighting the hardships expected from Medicaid cuts and ICE expansion. The tone and framing suggest a progressive perspective advocating for expanded healthcare access, renewable energy, and restrained immigration enforcement, positioning the piece as left-leaning rather than neutral or centrist.

SUMMARY: AUGUSTA, Ga. — With heat indexes reaching triple digits, outdoor workers and first responders face dangerous summer temperatures. Dr. Brandon Bentley advises that excessive tiredness and sweating are signs of heat strain. Recently, deputies needed ambulance assistance at Freedom Bridge due to the heat. Firefighters also warn that moving between air conditioning and heat stresses the body. Everyone working outside—from construction to yard work—should stay hydrated, wear light clothes, and recognize symptoms like profuse sweating, shortness of breath, and confusion as signals to rest. Experts caution against relying on sugary or alcoholic drinks for hydration, emphasizing water as the primary fluid. Sports drinks can help replace salts but shouldn’t replace water.

Read the full article

The post How to stay safe working in the summer heat, whether you're law enforcement or not appeared first on www.wjbf.com

by Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder
July 15, 2025

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday night moved one step closer to canceling $9 billion in previously approved funding for several foreign aid programs and public broadcasting after GOP leaders addressed some objections.

Nearly all the chamber’s Republicans voted to begin debate on the bill, though Maine’s Susan Collins, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski opposed the procedural step along with every Democrat.

The 51-50 vote marked a significant moment for President Donald Trump’s rescissions request, which faced more headwinds in the Senate than in the House. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.

Trump proposed doing away with $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that lawmakers had approved for the next two fiscal years as well as $8.3 billion from several foreign aid accounts.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides funding to National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service and local media stations throughout the country.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said before the vote that some of the progress stemmed from removing a spending cut for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a global health program to combat HIV/AIDS launched by former President George W. Bush.

“There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue and that’s reflected in the substitute,” Thune said. “And we hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate that the House would accept that one small modification.”

South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, who had raised concerns about cutting funding for rural public broadcasting stations run by tribal communities, announced a few hours before the vote he’d reached an agreement with the White House.

“We wanted to make sure tribal broadcast services in South Dakota continued to operate which provide potentially lifesaving emergency alerts,” Rounds wrote in a social media post. “We worked with the Trump administration to find Green New Deal money that could be reallocated to continue grants to tribal radio stations without interruption.”

Rounds said during a brief interview that $9.4 million will be transferred from an account within the Interior Department directly to 28 Native American radio stations in nine states.

“I had concerns specifically about the impact on these radio stations that are in rural areas with people that have basically very few other resources, and to me, they got caught in the crossfire on public broadcasting,” Rounds said. “And so I just wanted to get it fixed and I was successful in getting it fixed.”

White House budget director Russ Vought told reporters after a closed-door lunch meeting with Republican senators that he didn’t want to get “too far ahead” of discussions, but that his office was working with GOP senators to ensure certain local broadcast stations “have the opportunity to continue to do their early warning system and local reporting.”

Maine’s Collins wants more details

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Collins, who voiced reservations about several of the rescissions during a June hearing, said preserving full funding for PEPFAR represented “progress.”

But Collins said a few hours before the vote she still wants more details from the White House budget office about the exact source of the other $9 billion in cuts to previously approved spending.

“One of the issues, which I raised at lunch, is the total is still $9 billion and it’s unclear to me how you get to $9 billion, because he’s listed a number of programs he wants to, quote, protect,” Collins said, referring to Vought. “So we still have the problem of not having detailed account information from OMB.”

Collins, R-Maine, then held up a printed version of the 1992 rescissions request that President George H.W. Bush sent Congress, which she said was “extremely detailed” and listed each account.

“I would contrast that to the message that we got for this rescission, which just has a paragraph and doesn’t tell you how it’s broken down in each program,” Collins said, adding she’s still “considering the options.”

The Senate’s procedural vote began a maximum of 10 hours of debate that will be followed by a marathon amendment voting session that could rework the bill. A final passage vote could take place as soon as Wednesday.

Trump expected to send more requests

The House approved the legislation in June, but the measure will have to go back across the Capitol for a final vote since the Senate is expected to make changes.

The effort to cancel funding that Congress previously approved in bipartisan government funding bills began last month when the Trump administration sent Congress this rescission request.

The initiative, led by White House budget director Vought, is part of Republicans’ ongoing efforts to reduce federal spending, which totaled $6.8 trillion during the last full fiscal year.

Vought expects to send lawmakers additional rescissions proposals in the months ahead, though he hasn’t said publicly when or what funding he’ll request Congress eliminate.

Once the White House submits a rescission request, it can legally freeze funding on those accounts for 45 days while Congress debates whether to approve, amend, or ignore the proposal.

Johnson slams funding for public media

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said during a press conference before the PEPFAR removal was announced that he hoped the Senate didn’t change the bill at all.

“I’ve urged them, as I always do, to please keep the product unamended because we have a narrow margin and we’ve got to pass it,” Johnson said. “But we’re going to process whatever they send us whenever they send (it to) us and I’m hopeful that it will be soon.”

Johnson said canceling the previously approved funding on some foreign aid programs and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting represented “low-hanging fruit.”

Federal funding for public media, Johnson said, embodied a “misuse of taxpayer dollars” on organizations that produce “biased reporting.”

“While at its origination NPR and PBS might have made some sense, and maybe it does now,” Johnson said. “But it shouldn’t be subsidized by taxpayers.”

Trump has also sought to encourage Republican senators to pass the bill without making any significant changes.

“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” Trump wrote on social media last week. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.

The post US Senate Republicans advance bill stripping funds from NPR, PBS, foreign aid appeared first on georgiarecorder.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

This article presents a factual and detailed account of a Republican-led Senate effort to cut funding for specific government programs, including foreign aid and public broadcasting. The coverage includes perspectives from GOP leaders and mentions opposition from some Republicans and Democrats, without overtly endorsing or opposing the policy itself. The focus on Republican criticism of public media funding and emphasis on fiscal restraint aligns with center-right policy priorities, but the balanced tone and inclusion of dissenting voices suggest a generally centrist news approach with a mild center-right leaning due to the subject matter and source framing.