Donald Trump wants a Georgia native to resign from the Federal Reserve Board.
Lawmakers examine how to support foster children entering adulthood.
Crime survivors’ conference will focus on harnessing political power.
Vance visit
Vice President JD Vance greeted a member of the National Guard at Union Station in Washington on Wednesday.
Credit: AP
Vice President JD Vance will focus on tax cuts for tipped workers and seniors during a stop in Peachtree City today to rally support for the “big, beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law last month.
Democrats, meanwhile, are intent on keeping the focus on the law’s less popular provisions, especially Medicaid cuts that could strip coverage from hundreds of thousands of Georgians and put more rural hospitals at risk.
They’re putting a spotlight on the plight of Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, which is facing a $3.3 million budget shortfall and could soon close its intensive care unit to cope with the new law’s Medicaid cuts.
“I am a firm believer this isn’t about partisan politics; this is about relevance and survivability,” hospital CEO Bill Lee told our AJC colleague Adam Van Brimmer this week.
Evans Memorial Hospital CEO Bill Lee (left) recently led U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., on a tour of the facility.
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff brought up the east Georgia hospital in an MSNBC appearance on the eve of the vice president’s visit, calling Vance’s trip “damage control.”
“Vance is being sent on this little errand to come and play defense in Georgia, defending a bill they can’t defend, trying to sell the unsellable,” he said.
The Republican-backed bill, passed at Trump’s urging, includes $50 billion in relief funds specifically for rural hospitals. But some advocacy groups warn that won’t be enough to stabilize a sector that was already in crisis before the cuts.
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Attorney General Chris Carr (left) and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones are competing for the Republican nomination for governor in 2026.
Credit: AJC
Good morning! Here are four things to know for today:
Attorney General Chris Carr and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones will square off in court today in a fight over the rules of raising campaign cash ahead of next year’s race for governor, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners has defied a court order by refusing to appoint two Republican critics to the county’s election board, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
A Georgia Chamber event on Wednesday offered the first chance for rival U.S. Senate candidates to make their case under one roof, Greg Bluestein reports.
After a recent shooting targeted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention building in Atlanta, hundreds of current and former employees are calling on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to help protect them, the AJC’s Ariel Hart reports.
Is Cook cooked?
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shared an exchange with board member Lisa Cook before a meeting in Washington in June.
Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP
President Donald Trump called for Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook to resign Wednesday after the head of the agency that regulates housing finance accused her of mortgage fraud.
Cook is a Georgia native and the first Black woman to serve on the board.Bill Pulte, the Trump-appointed director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said he referred Cook to the Department of Justice after discovering she had named two properties as her primary residence.
Trump has been trying to remake the Fed to exert more influence, particularly over a decision on whether to adjust interest rates. But board members can only be removed “for cause,” and policy differences are not considered reason enough.
“Cook must resign, now!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Cook, whose term does not end until January 2038, released a statement issued through the Fed saying she was staying put, the Associated Press reported.
“I have no intention of being bullied to step down from my position because of some questions raised in a tweet,” Cook said in a statement issued by the Fed, although she said she would look into the concerns raised by Pulte.
Aging out
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, spoke at a legislative committee hearing on Wednesday in Atlanta.
Credit: Adam Beam
The good news is that the rate of children entering Georgia’s foster system has been declining since 2015. The bad news? The children who are in the system usually stay there until they reach adulthood.
About 500 children age out of Georgia’s foster care system every year. That number hasn’t changed despite the lower rate of children entering the system — a phenomenon playing out across the country, according to Christine Calpin at Casey Family Programs.
Georgia has lots of programs to offer services to these children. The state Senate created a Children and Families Committee in 2023 and since then at least 27 bills that have passed through the panel have become law.
But the state still struggles to help everyone. Regginald Holloway told lawmakers on Wednesday during a committee hearing that he struggled to have housing while in college, saying he had to “couch surf” on the way toearning his degree — something few foster children ever do.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, convened a study committee on Tuesday to examine how the state can help foster children transition to adulthood. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones sent an aide to the hearing. Representatives from Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration also testified.
“I feel like there’s a window of opportunity right now because of the lieutenant governor’s interest in this area,” Kirkpatrick said. “I always feel a sense of urgency to go ahead and get done as much as we can.”
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Finding a voice
Tiffany Smith (right), posed for a photo with her son, Cameron Jackson, in October of 2022. He was killed later that year.
Credit: Courtesy photo
More than 300 crime survivors will gather in Atlanta this weekend for a conference focused on harnessing their growing political power at state legislatures across the country.
The Crime Survivors Speak Conference kicks off Friday at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. Hosted by Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, the two-day conference will help attendees understand the legislative process in their states and how to work on policy campaigns.
They’ll also discuss effective ways to tell their stories “in a way that can have impact that can change hearts and minds,” said Aswad Thomas, the group’s vice president.
Speakers include Tiffany Smith, whose 15-year-old son Cameron Jackson was killed in a shooting at Atlantic Station in 2022. Smith said she felt powerless after the shooting because of a “lack of knowledge and education on how the process works.”
“These type of conferences — it just kind of helps you to step outside of your world of knowledge,” she said. “There are things that you can learn that will help you to make a difference, whether it be in legislation, policy, even in the criminal justice system.”
He’s here all night, folks!
Left to right: Former U.S. Rep Drew Ferguson and U.S. Reps. Austin Scott and Mike Collins at the Georgia Chamber Congressional Luncheon in Columbus on Wednesday.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Former U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson seems to be enjoying his newfound freedom away from the House of Representatives. The now-retired congressman had the Georgia Chamber audience in stitches Wednesday as he moderated a panel of his former House GOP colleagues: U.S. Reps. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, and Austin Scott, R-Tifton.
Riffing about his old haunts in the nation’s capital, Ferguson called Washington “a hot mess.”
“We refer to it as puberty for grown-ups. Everybody’s emotional and nobody’s making good decisions,” he joked.
Ferguson also compared serving on the powerful House Rules Committee to “herding cats with a weed eater.”
And he said of the U.S. Senate: “They say you should get two Falcons, two Braves and two Hawks to be your pallbearers, so they can let you down one last time. And let’s add a U.S. senator.”
Workforce development
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga, spoke at the Georgia Chamber Congressional Luncheon in Columbus on Wednesday.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., will travel to Clayton County today to talk about workforce development, an issue President Donald Trump has been vocal about since his return to the White House.
Ossoff will discuss legislation he recently introduced that he says would incentivize companies to invest in equipment and facilitiesto help train workers at public high schools as well as technical and community colleges.
Last week, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Commerce, and Education released a report on workforce development that focuses in part on apprenticeships or other work-based learning opportunities that lead to in-demand jobs.
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Listen up
AJC government reporter Mark Niesse is a guest today on the "Politically Georgia" show.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we’re previewing Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Peachtree City today to promote what the “big, beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law.
AJC election guru Mark Niesse also joins the show to talk about the recent mass cancellation of voter registrations and what Georgia voters can do to if they are impacted.
You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Mayor on mayors
Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah has some thoughts about other mayors.
Credit: Russ Bynum/AP
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson weighed in on the New York City mayoral race during an interview with the “Politically Georgia” podcast this week.
Without endorsing anyone in the contest, Johnson called his old friend and current Mayor Eric Adams a good person. But he had a word of warning about the policies of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani,who is the Democratic Party’s nominee.
From Johnson:
“I think New Yorkers have to be very, very concerned about the individual that has won the Democratic nomination. The views that are espoused might be very, very popular, but from a practitioner’s standpoint, don’t necessarily seem to be feasible. If you chase everyone that is making money out of New York, then who pays for all of these very high goals that he has? Again, I’ll leave that to the folks in New York.
“I’ll leave that to my mother and my sisters and my family that is there. But they have a hard choice to make.”
Trump today
President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing and sign executive orders.
Shoutouts
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Before you go
Farmers will gather in Perry today to hear from state agriculture officials during the annual Joint Ag Issues Summit hosted by state Sen. Russ Goodman, R-Cogdell, and state Rep. Robert Dickey, R-Musella.
The Politically Georgia team starts your day with insights and analysis from Peachtree Street to Pennsylvania Avenue. If you do not want this newsletter, unsubscribe here.
The Politically Georgia team starts your day with insights and analysis from Peachtree Street to Pennsylvania Avenue. If you do not want this newsletter, unsubscribe here.
