Just as U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson’s town hall began, the Democrat was confronted by a supporter pressing him to block President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget proposal, which slashes spending on safety net programs while extending trillions in tax cuts.
He couldn’t offer her much hope.
“It’s in the Senate now, and the Senate has a three-vote majority of Republicans,” he said Wednesday to a half-filled auditorium at Gwinnett Technical College. “And so our job now is to convince four of them to be opposed to the bill.”
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which seeks to enact his domestic policy agenda, has quickly galvanized Gov. Brian Kemp and other top Georgia Republicans.
And it’s left Democrats scrambling to derail — or at least find ways to soften — deep cuts to health, education and green energy incentive programs they warn would put more working Georgians at risk while disproportionately benefiting the wealthy.
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
The overhaul is emerging as a key issue in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, with Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff warning it would do lasting damage to the state’s health care system while adding to the deficit — and his GOP challengers racing to outdo each other in support.
It also revives a political dilemma for Kemp, who has long faced tension over federal tax breaks and incentives signed into law by President Joe Biden that helped transform Georgia into a hub for electric vehicles and battery production.
Meanwhile, the looming federal cuts have triggered fresh warnings from Democrats and watchdog groups who say Georgia taxpayers could end up footing the bill as food stamp programs, Medicaid and social services face steep reductions.
The anxiety is part of a broader backlash to Trump’s push to cram much of his second-term agenda into one massive bill that cuts taxes, guts Democratic initiatives and ramps up funding for immigration enforcement and national defense.
That new spending would be offset in part by deep cuts to health, education and clean energy programs under the bill that narrowly passed the House this month. The debate shifts now to the Senate, where GOP leaders are under pressure to approve the measure by July 4.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Georgia Democrats are mobilizing against the bill, which passed with the backing of every Republican in the state’s House delegation. At the center of their pushback are Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which they say disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis found the package would shrink incomes for the poorest 10% of U.S. households while boosting earnings for the top 10%. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warned it would add $3 trillion in debt over the next decade.
Ossoff has also pointed to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that found thousands of Georgians on subsidized private insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act could lose coverage.
“House Republicans’ partisan bill guts Medicaid to cut taxes for the rich and will increase the federal debt by trillions,” Ossoff said.
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and Insurance Commissioner John King, who launched their challenges to Ossoff this month, have each embraced Trump’s bill. Carter played a key role in crafting the proposed cuts to the Medicaid program.
“We need to make sure we save that program and we can do that,” Carter told the “Politically Georgia” podcast, arguing that the changes would help ensure Medicaid’s long-term survival.
“We can cut out waste, fraud and abuse. We can make sure that we have work requirements in that program.”
At the state Capitol, some are warning of state-level consequences as the budget cuts and economic uncertainty ripple through Georgia’s economy. Key legislators are bracing for a potential special legislative session to revise the state’s spending blueprint.
“We have to be aware that there are some potential federal cuts coming that we have not taken into consideration for the budget,” Democratic state Rep. Debbie Buckner told a few dozen attendees this week during a listening session in LaGrange.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Manufacturers are also preparing for deep cuts to Biden-era tax credits that have fueled a clean energy boom in Georgia — and a recurring political tug-of-war between Kemp and state Democrats over who deserves credit.
The second-term governor doesn’t dispute that the incentives have lured billions of dollars in new investment to the state. But he opposes Democratic-led initiatives that he says “pick winners and losers.”
Reflecting his growing alliance with Trump, Kemp helped spearhead a letter to Trump calling the budget package a “landmark piece of legislation (that) embodies your powerful vision to bring about the next great American revival.”
“It truly delivers on the bold promises all Republicans made to the American people to restore the security, prosperity, and fiscal sanity for our nation,” read the letter from Kemp, who leads the Republican Governors Association.
Still, the final version of the spending plan is far from clear. And there are signs of growing GOP friction. Elon Musk, who Trump tapped to upend the federal bureaucracy, warned this week the overhaul would undercut the administration’s effort to shrink the government.
And in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow, 53-47 edge, some GOP members demand more specific provisions to reduce the ballooning national deficit. Others have raised concerns about the scope of health care cuts.
Back in Gwinnett County, Johnson gave attendees little reason to be optimistic about staving off its passage. The most effective step, he said, was to mobilize for the midterm elections next year.
“We all know that Donald Trump controls the U.S. House and Senate on the Republican side,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Staff writer Michelle Baruchman contributed to this report.
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