They are also calling on Congress to propose a bill named after US Congressman John Lewis that would reinstate state review of changes to electoral law at the state level.
These lawmakers aren’t the only Georgia presence pushing for voting rights in Washington today. Stacey Abrams’ advocacy group, Fair Fight Action, partnered with the Center for American Progress Action Fund at a press conference attended by voters from Georgia and other states.
We anticipate that these types of events and demonstrations will increase in number and size as Democrats and suffrage activists become increasingly impatient with Congress because of no progress on voting laws.
Back in June, a group of Georgia pastors traveled to Washington with a similar agenda. A few weeks ago, Georgia MP, Hank Johnson, was arrested on Capitol Hill during a suffrage protest.
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During a layover in Atlanta on Monday, US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra applauded the Georgia Democrats for pursuing a “workaround” to force the state to expand the Medicaid program.
“There is a proposal that the state has put on the table and we are examining it. We want to work with you. We want it to work, ”he said, adding,“ Georgia is under discussion. We just have to get it right. “
Becerra spoke at a roundtable event focused on black mother health at the Center for Black Women Wellness in Atlanta. Doctors, midwives and lawyers called for more federal funding to reduce the severe inequality in the state’s maternal mortality rate, which causes black women to die from pregnancy-related problems four times more often than white women.
Many of the attendees said that while expanding Medicaid would be a welcome move, state and federal agencies would need to take more drastic measures to fill the gap. They called for more money for pilot programs and research initiatives, along with new laws that allow midwives to have broader medical authorities.
Becerra pledged to take advice when he urged Governor Brian Kemp and others to take sharper steps to reduce the number of uninsured Georgians. He said the burden is on state GOP executives to prove that the Medicaid waiver they requested, which would allow them flexibility in running the program, could meet key thresholds.
“The bottom line is that Medicaid is about giving people access to quality care at an affordable price,” said the secretary. “If you want an exemption from these laws, you must prove to us that you are expanding access to more people with better care at a better price.”
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POSTED: Even without a clear idea of who will challenge U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia next year, we have a pretty good picture of how the Republicans plan to attack him on his file.
The subjects will be familiar to anyone who has watched last year’s special elections. Republicans will say Warnock’s positions are too liberal for Georgia voters to be unable to represent the state.
But we also know he’s still popular with the Democrats. Next year’s elections, which are expected to be close, will depend heavily on which side builds their base better.
Read more about this early analysis of next year’s Georgia Senate race.
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Senator Ron Johnson is set to waver over the spread of unsubstantiated theories about the January 6 attack on the Capitol after his conversation was taped by an Atlanta woman who later shared the video with the Washington Post. Statements by the Wisconsin Republicans show how long some conservatives will spread a false story about not only the insurrection but the coronavirus pandemic as well.
The video of Johnson’s remarks was recorded by Bridget Kurt, a 49-year-old Atlanta resident and hospice worker who stayed at the Radisson Hotel in Wauwatosa while visiting family. She said she reached out to Johnson after the political event ended and the hotel bar space reopened.
Kurt said she was forced to confront Johnson as a lifelong Republican who was dismayed by party leaders’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the January 6 attack.
Here’s how Johnson responded after Kurt mentioned working in a Georgia hospice and asked the Senator to encourage people to get vaccinated:
“I won’t do that,” Johnson replied when his followers mocked Kurt. “I do not encourage or discourage.”
Before leaving the room, Kurt said, “But you are saying things that are counterproductive and not scientific. Well, I just wanted you to know. “
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Republican Senate candidate Gary Black outlines his anti-crime platform at the Georgia Sheriffs Association meeting on Jekyll Island this morning.
He plans to call for “national law enforcement repayment efforts” and recruit more police officers and deputies to the sheriff.
“Some politicians put elections above public safety, and our police and sheriff personnel are literally caught in the crossfire,” he will say in prepared remarks. “Crime devastates families – disproportionately large minorities and poor families.”
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Congressman John Lewis wrote his latest graphic novel with Andrew Aydin while undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer that cost him his life last year.
The successor to the duo’s three-part series “March”, the new comic is titled “Run: Book One” and focuses on Lewis’ activism following the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1965. It officially hits shelves today. .
When we spoke to Aydin about the book last month, he described Lewis’ trajectory as akin to a classic superhero story, but with chaotic parts designed to remind readers that he was a real person. He hopes this will help them realize that, inspired by Lewis, they can be the change maker they want to be in their own lives.
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Fort Benning is preparing to dedicate a memorial to a black soldier who was lynched there 80 years ago, reports AJC’s Jeremy Redmon.
Pvt. Felix Hall volunteered to join the U.S. Army when America was building its armed forces during World War II. Only 19 years old, he disappeared in February 1941, 10 months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States would enter the war. Companions eventually found his body hanging in a ravine at Fort Benning.
Federal agencies spent months investigating but never solving the crime. Of the many blacks who have been lynched in America, Hall is the only one known to have been killed in a military facility, according to Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, which is investigating the case in depth.
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In other news:
- Tyler Adams, a former policy advisor to Governor Brian Kemp, joined Connect Public Relations as senior vice president.
- Former Fran Millar State Senator was celebrated in a bipartisan ceremony in Dunwoody to celebrate the renaming of a section of I-285 in his honor.
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As always, Jolt readers are among our favorite tipsters. Send your best news, gossip, and inside information to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
