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Today’s newsletter highlights:

Buddy Carter steps down as health subcommittee chair.
Jim Kingston gathers support for congressional bid.
Georgia farmers are still waiting for hurricane relief.

‘Big, beautiful’ conclusion

President Donald Trump has said he wants Congress to pass his "big, beautiful bill" ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.

President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy legislation is poised to finally pass Congress today, but only after he spent all day and most of the night convincing a final group of Republican holdouts, including U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Athens.

Clyde was among a group of GOP lawmakers who held up the bill into the early morning hours through a series of procedural votes. But he ultimately voted to allow the bill to proceed to a final debate on the House floor.

Clyde has not yet publicly explained his change of heart, but he and others met with Speaker Mike Johnson and White House officials throughout the ordeal, and they eventually drew the attention and likely the involvement of Trump himself.

“FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!” Trump wrote on social media shortly after midnight.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., spoke against President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts at the Capitol this week.

Clyde and other members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus were unhappy with the Senate’s changes to the bill, which resulted in adding about $1 trillion more to the national deficit than what the House had approved. They were also upset about the Senate slowing down the phase-out of clean energy tax credits and removing language to deregulate firearms.

In the end, only one Republican — U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania — voted with Democrats on a procedural vote close to 3:30 a.m. in a failed attempt to block the bill.

Johnson says he’s confident the House will pass the bill today. U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is expected to join Fitzpatrick in voting “no.”

Still, it appears that Trump and others found a way to get nearly all Republicans to a “yes” on the Senate version, despite their misgivings. This would give Trump a win on the terms he had requested: that Congress sign off on the legislation prior to the July Fourth holiday.

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Things to know

Runners participate in the AJC's Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4, 2024.

Good morning! We’re taking tomorrow off for the Fourth of July holiday. But tens of thousands of runners will be working hard to complete the annual AJC Peachtree Road Race. Be sure and follow the AJC’s extensive coverage of the 10 kilometer race. And let us know if you finish. We could give you a shoutout in Monday’s newsletter.

Here are three things to know today:

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she raised about $900,000 for her campaign for governor and loaned herself another $200,000, Greg Bluestein reports.
State Rep. Tim Fleming is planning to run for Georgia secretary of state, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports. The Covington Republican is a former top aide to Gov. Brian Kemp.
The Senate version of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” would make Planned Parenthood ineligible for Medicaid funding for at least a year, Tia Mitchell and Maya T. Prabhu report.

Stepping aside

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, is running for a Senate seat in the 2026 election.

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is stepping down as chair of a key House subcommittee after he oversaw the GOP’s plan to cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid as part of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”

It was a political gamble for Carter to oversee perhaps the most controversial portion of Trump’s legislation while also planning a run for U.S. Senate in a swing state. Now, it will be up to voters to decide if it pays off.

Carter’s stance could help distinguish himself in a competitive Republican primary next summer. But if he were to win the primary, Carter’s role in the legislation would give U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., lots of ammunition to criticize him for steep cuts to a government program that insures more than 2.2 million people in Georgia.

Still, Carter hasn’t shied away from his role, telling the "Politically Georgia" podcast earlier this year that he wished the cuts to Medicaid were even deeper. He said he’s stepping down as chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health because he couldn’t do the job and run a statewide campaign at the same time.

“Georgia is a big state, and this is important race, and I have got to focus on that,” Carter told Tia Mitchell on Wednesday. “And, quite honestly, that’s such a such an important committee and such an important position that the committee deserves somebody who can give it their undivided attention.”

Show of strength

While U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter plunges ahead with his Senate campaign, Jim Kingston is taking steps to consolidate GOP support in the race to succeed him.

Kingston, the youngest son of former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, told us his campaign for Georgia’s 1st Congressional District will show he raised more than $800,000 over a roughly three-week span.

He also said he recently visited the White House to meet with aides to President Donald Trump. His endorsements include two well-known Savannah Republicans: state Sen. Ben Watson and former Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson.

Other Republicans in the race include Kandiss Taylor, a polarizing hard-liner who once ran for governor with the campaign slogan “Jesus, guns and babies,” and Pat Farrell, a long-serving Savannah-area county commissioner.

Still waiting

Evan Walker surveyed the trees knocked down in Wilsonville by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged large swaths of farm and timberland last year.

Georgia farmers had hoped the state and federal governments would have a deal by the end of June to begin the process of distributing hundreds of millions of dollars in Hurricane Helene relief in the form of block grants. But that deadline came and went this week with farmers still waiting.

Congress rushed to approve $21 billion in disaster relief for farmers just a few months after the hurricane wiped out harvests for many Georgia farmers. But more than six months later, the money still hasn’t made it through the government bureaucracy.

“We are nearing the end of a complex negotiation process. Ensuring our agreement is done properly means Georgia farmers will see the money they’re entitled to faster,” Georgia Department of Agriculture spokesman Matthew Agvent said. “As a sports metaphor, I’d say we are at the two-yard line.”

Cover your ears

Chihuahuas enjoy a good Fourth of July parade, but prefer to skip the loud fireworks.

It’s about to get loud in Georgia.

A state law passed in 2018 lets local governments restrict the use of fireworks through local noise ordinances. But the law has an exception for July 3 and July 4. When it comes to Independence Day, it’s a free-for-all.

Nationally, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 14,700 people were injured by fireworks in 2024, an increase of 52% compared to 2023. Eleven people died in 2024 from fireworks-related injuries, representing a 38% increase.

It’s hard to know the details of these injuries. The American Fireworks Standards Laboratory says 92% of reported injuries did not include the type of firework involved, which they say is crucial “for a comprehensive analysis of the contribution of each fireworks device to the number of emergency department-treated incidents.”

Listen up

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, are Democratic candidates for governor.

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast, Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell break down the early money race in the contest for governor, U.S. Senate and House seats.

Then they turn to Capitol Hill, where the Senate narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Mitchell reports from Washington on what’s in the package and what it means for Georgia.

You can listen and subscribe to the show 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.

Whip team

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, has been working to garner Republican support for President Donald Trump's tax and budget bill.

Georgia U.S. Rep. Mike Collins has been trying to drum up support for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” this week as a member of the House Republicans’ whip team.

The role ensures Collins gets lots of face time with fellow Republicans in Congress as he considers whether to leverage his platform and relationships by launching a bid for the U.S. Senate next year.

Collins was invited to the White House to meet with administration officials on the tax and spending package. And he has been working the floor, trying to flip GOP holdouts who oppose the Senate-passed version of the bill.

The Jackson Republican said he is focused on helping Trump carry out his agenda.

“I’m not on the Whip Team to make friends or add a notch to my belt,” he said in a statement to the AJC. “I’m here to push through common-sense America First legislation that helps our country for generations. If the White House needs a bulldog to run down ‘no’ votes again, I’m happy to be back anytime.”

Today in Washington

President Donald Trump will meet at the White House with an American who had been held hostage by Hamas. Trump is also traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, for a speech kicking off the yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday, which is July 4, 2026.
The House will take a final vote on the “big, beautiful bill.”
The Senate is done for the week.

Shoutouts

State Rep. Ron Stephens (center), R-Savannah, first took office in 1997.

Today’s birthday:

State Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah.

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.