Georgia Democrats decry shutdown deal that doesn’t extend health subsidies
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Donald Trump comments on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s criticism.
- Jason Esteves criticizes Geoff Duncan’s shutdown comments.
- Two Georgia towns vote to opt out of fluoride requirement.
Seeing red
Georgia Democrats are fuming over the decision of eight Democratic-aligned U.S. senators to side with Republicans on a bill to end the government shutdown that does not guarantee health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans will be extended beyond this year.
Every major Democratic candidate for governor panned the deal, which Democratic U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff — the party’s most vulnerable incumbent in 2026 — voted against. Down-ticket Democrats also piled on.
“This goes to why the base is so frustrated with the Democratic Party,” said state Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, who is running for lieutenant governor. “We need Democrats who are going to stand up and fight for basic necessities.”
Part of the agreement to reopen the government is a promise from Senate Republicans to hold a separate vote later this year on extending the health insurance subsidies. Ossoff is trying to shift the spotlight to that vote, especially as it could put pressure on House Republicans, including U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, two of his GOP challengers.
“Now what’s ahead is a challenge to the GOP,” Ossoff said Monday. “Will they join us in preventing catastrophic increases to health insurance premiums?”
We checked in with Carter and Collins, along with former football coach Derek Dooley who is also seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. All three said they want to see the final legislative language before taking a position.
But they also emphasized long-term health care reforms, rather than what Collins called “endless subsidies.”
Carter, too, cast doubt in an interview on the “Politically Georgia” podcast over whether House Speaker Mike Johnson will ever allow a vote on the health insurance subsidies.
“Let’s make sure we understand that was a promise made by the Senate, not by the House,” Carter said. “I’m not sure that’s going to come to the floor of the House.”
Things to know
Good morning! It’s Day 42 of the federal government shutdown. The U.S. Senate last night passed legislation that would reopen the government over the objection of most Democrats. The bill now heads to the House.
Here are three other things to know for today:
- Georgia Democrats say they want more fight. And they’re getting it from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and other leading party figures opposing a deal to end a record-long government shutdown, writes Greg Bluestein.
- Only about 15% of the $660 million allotted for capital projects from the sweeping Moving Atlanta Forward bond package has been spent in the last four years, the AJC’s Riley Bunch reports.
- Fulton County officials are resisting a request from the Trump administration to turn over a slew of records related to the 2020 election, the AJC’s Caleb Groves reports.
‘Lost her way’
President Donald Trump said U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent criticisms of him and other Republicans have left him baffled.
“I don’t know what happened,” he told reporters Monday. “Nice woman. But I don’t know what happened, she’s lost her way, I think.”
Trump met with President Ahmad al-Sharaa of Syria at the White House on Monday, prompting Greene to post on social media that she would rather see him have meetings “on domestic policy not foreign policy and foreign country’s leaders.”
Trump said Greene is “now catering to the other side.”
“When somebody like Marjorie goes over and starts making statements like that, it shows she doesn’t know,” he said.
Greene has had several high profile disagreements with Republican leaders, including on issues like extending health insurance subsidies and whether to release investigative files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019.
Trump said his position requires him to think beyond U.S. borders, an approach that challenges the “America First” mantra that Greene and others want him to embrace.
“I have to view the presidency as a worldwide situation, not locally,” Trump said. “I mean, we could have a world that’s on fire, where wars come to our shores very easily. ”
Shots fired
Georgia Democrats have mostly stayed in their lanes in the race for governor. But the shutdown showdown triggered one of the first intraparty flare-ups.
Former state Sen. Jason Esteves called the compromise in the U.S. Senate “nothing more than a surrender” to President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan noted Georgians’ health care costs “will double or worse because of Trump’s refusal to extend these tax credits.”
Esteves took issue with Duncan’s critique, pointing out that the ex-Republican leader opposed Medicaid expansion in Georgia.
“The irony is that many of those Georgians would not have been as impacted had Geoff not worked against Medicaid expansion the entire time he was in the legislature,” Esteves posted on social media.
Duncan has repeatedly said he regrets not supporting the expansion and recently embarked on a statewide health care tour with seven stops to discuss the issue.
The two rivals are polling in the single-digits in the AJC’s latest survey of likely primary voters, but both have room to grow with roughly 40% of voters still undecided.
About that pardon
Georgians woke up Monday to the news that President Donald Trump issued symbolic pardons to a list of Republicans he said were unfairly targeted after the 2020 election.
Among them: Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, now the GOP front-runner for governor.
Jones, like many others on the list, was not facing state or federal charges related to his role as a GOP elector in 2020. But the president issued a preemptive exoneration anyway.
The move may not be universally welcome ahead of an election where Democrats are likely to use the broader “fake elector” issue to motivate their base.
But Jones, who has long slammed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for her investigation of Trump and his allies, embraced the decision.
“After being cleared by the state prosecutor, this is the final confirmation that this whole thing was a charade led by Joe Biden and Fani Willis,” his spokeswoman Kayla Lott said. “They owe the taxpayers an apology and a refund.”
Fluoride worries
Two small Georgia cities recently voted to opt out of a law requiring fluoride in their public water systems, following the advice of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
State law requires public water systems to use fluoride, a mineral that strengthens teeth and reduces cavities. But local governments can opt out of that law through a referendum.
Voters in Molena and Pavo did that last week.
Tommy Coleman, the Pavo city attorney, said residents organized a petition to opt out of the law after hearing Kennedy tell the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in water systems.
Coleman, who represents about 35 cities and other local governments in South Georgia, said he had never before been asked about opting out of Georgia’s fluoride law.
Kennedy has called fluoride a “dangerous neurotoxin.” Some studies have shown fluoride can cause health problems, but only in higher than recommended amounts. The U.S. government has set guidelines for the amount of fluoride to use in water since 1962.
Last month the U.S. Food and Drug Administration limited the use of fluoride supplements for children.
Shutdown impact
The federal government is on track to reopen sometime this week. But don’t expect things to immediately go back to normal.
“This shutdown isn’t a light switch. It’s not just on and it’s not just off,” said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Airports across the country have been struggling with staffing as air traffic controllers missed two paychecks during the shutdown. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told CNN that 18 out of 22 controllers in Atlanta called in sick for work on Saturday alone.
Daniels said it will take some time to find out how many air traffic controllers quit or retired during the shutdown to truly assess the staffing situation. It will likely take even longer for furloughed federal workers to make up their lost paychecks.
“All I can refer to is what happened in 2019,” Daniels said. “It took air traffic controllers two to two and a half months to be able to be made whole.”
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, joins the show to talk about the government shutdown negotiations, health care subsidies and his attempt to win President Donald Trump’s endorsement for his U.S. Senate campaign.
You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia for free an 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.
History maker
Georgia has never had a female lieutenant governor. But a woman raised in Georgia will take the oath of office for Virginia’s No. 2 job next year.
Ghazala Hashmi defeated Republican John Reid in Virginia’s lieutenant governor’s race last week. Hashmi was 4-years-old when her family moved to Statesboro from India for her father to join the political science department at Georgia Southern University.
After graduating from Georgia Southern herself, Hashmi received a doctorate from Emory University before a career in education and public service.
When she’s sworn into office, Hashmi will also become the first female Muslim statewide elected official in the nation.
Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump will mark Veterans Day by participating at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
- The House returns Wednesday.
- The Senate is done for the week.
Shoutouts
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Before you go
Voters will decide two state House seats in a pair of special elections set for Dec. 9. One election is in the northern exurbs of Atlanta and the other in a part of Athens.
That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
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