Georgia will be at the center of the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee hearing this morning with the title, “Jim Crow 2021: The Latest Assault on the Right to Vote.”
“Jim Crow 2.0” is the way Stacey Abrams, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and other Georgia Democrats have described the state’s new election law, which they say is designed to make it harder for Democratic-leaning voters to cast their ballots.
In excerpts of Warnock’s prepared remarks obtained by your Insiders, the senator plans to push the committee to take action at the federal level to combat state efforts to restrict voting rights in Georgia and elsewhere across the nation.
The Democrat also intends to tell his colleagues that Congress once saw preserving voting rights as a moral imperative and passed measures with bipartisan consensus.
From his prepared remarks, first in the Jolt:
“To be sure, we have seen these kinds of voter suppression tactics before aimed at the same communities. They are a part of a long and shameful history in Georgia and throughout our nation. But that history is also filled with moments of hope and of promise, when our nation has come together in recognition that preserving our democracy is more important than everything else.
“Just fifteen years ago, the United States Congress re-authorized the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under a Republican President and with a bipartisan vote in the Senate of ninety-eight to zero. At the time, our colleague Senator Mitch McConnell, praised its passage, declaring it a law that would make a difference for all of America. Many members of this Committee, including the Chair and Ranking Members, enthusiastically voted in favor of it. That was 2006—why shouldn't voting rights legislation be just as bipartisan now, in 2021?
“Many argue that the modern U.S. Senate is dysfunctional and incapable of governing in a bipartisan manner. We can boldly refute these claims by coming together not as Democrats or Republicans, but as supporters of democracy itself, to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Together, these two bills would turn the tide against state-level voter suppression proposals across the country.
“These pieces of legislation would expand and protect access to the ballot for every citizen—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Because strengthening our democracy does not benefit one party over another. Instead, democracy reform benefits all of us by ensuring that our government is of the people, by the people, for the people."
Don’t be surprised to see Warnock continue to press the issue of voting rights to Democrats and Republicans – and to Georgia’s electorate – as his 2022 re-election bid nears. As he told President Joe Biden last week, he sees the voting rights expansion as crucial as the administration’s infrastructure overhaul expansion.
Abrams, the founder of the Fair Fight Action voting rights group, will serve on a second panel alongside Emory University Professor Carol Anderson, author of “White Rage” and “One Person, No Vote.”
Abrams said she will focus her remarks on encouraging the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a law that would return to a system of court review before states like Georgia can make significant changes to election procedures.
Representing the other side of the debate will be Georgia state Rep. Jan Jones, House speaker pro tem, who says the Georgia law “makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat.” Jones was a member of the state House Special Committee on Election Integrity, which debated and passed the state’s new election law.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s other senator, Sen. Jon Ossoff, will be present as a member of the committee, which means he’ll also have an opportunity to ask questions and make remarks.
The hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. and will be available via livestream.
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Former Vice President Walter Mondale has died.
Mondale served as President Jimmy Carter’s vice president throughout his four years in the White House from 1977 to 1981.
Mondale also served as a U.S. senator, Minnesota attorney general, the 1984 Democratic nominee for president, and as former President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Japan.
In a statement released late Monday night, Carter said, “I mourn the passing of my dear friend, Walter Mondale, who I consider the best vice president in our country’s history.” Carter also praised Mondale’s “personal integrity” and called him “an invaluable partner.”
He concluded, “Fritz Mondale provided all of us a model for public service and private behavior.”
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Black faith leaders in Georgia are calling for a boycott of Home Depot over the company’s “indifference” to Georgia’s new voting law, the New York Times reports.
More:
The call for a boycott, led by Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who oversees all 534 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia, represents one of the first major steps to put significant economic pressure on businesses to be more vocal in opposing Republican efforts in Georgia and around the country to enact new restrictions on voting.
“We don't believe this is simply a political matter," Bishop Jackson said in an interview. “This is a matter that deals with securing the future of this democracy, and the greatest right in this democracy is the right to vote."
Home Depot, Mr. Jackson said, “demonstrated an indifference, a lack of response to the call, not only from clergy, but a call from other groups to speak out in opposition to this legislation."
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Georgia had an above-average number of deaths during the coronavirus pandemic, compared to other states, but lost a below-average number of jobs.
Those are the findings of a new report from Hamilton Place Strategies, a research and consulting firm, which analyzed data for all 50 states from the Centers for Disease Control and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“New York, which falls into both categories, had the worst overall outcome, with both high excess deaths and high job losses,” the report said. “The states that emerged in the best position were Idaho, Utah, and West Virginia, all with some combination of low loss of life and low loss of employment.”
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About a third of farmers in Georgia, 14,152 of 41,400, were awarded COVID relief dollars by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, according to a new analysis by the Times Union newspaper in Albany, N.Y.
States in the Midwest and Rust Belt fared much better. Nearly every farmer in Nebraska received aid, and state’s like South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas and Illinois saw rates near 80% or higher.
The national average was 43%.
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Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a resolution to expel U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters from the House.
Waters, a California Democrat, drew criticism over the weekend after her comments to the press in Minnesota ahead of jury deliberations in the Derek Chauvin trial.
Asked by a reporter what protestors should do if there is not a guilty verdict in the trial, Waters said, “We got to stay on the street. And we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”
Republicans, including Greene, accused Waters of trying to incite violence if Chauvin is acquitted. The judge in the case described her remarks as problematic, although he denied the defense’s request to declare a mistrial.
Greene’s resolution, which would require a two-thirds vote to pass, is unlikely to come up for a vote. But it’s allowing her to accuse Democrats of hypocrisy after stripping her of committees earlier this year for making racist and problematic comments.
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POSTED: U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter is prepping a likely run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Raphael Warnock.
If Carter does get into the race, Carter will join an increasingly crowded GOP field, which includes former Navy SEAL Latham Saddler and veteran and businessman Kelvin King.
From Greg Bluestein’s piece:
“Carter, a pharmacist and former Pooler mayor, was a long-time state legislator before he was elected in 2014 to succeed Republican Jack Kingston in the U.S. House. He's staked a conservative agenda in Congress while drawing scrutiny from watchdog groups over potential conflicts of interest.
“He was also among the group of six Georgia U.S. House members who voted to overturn Joe Biden's election victory hours after a deadly mob descended on the Capitol, a decision that was rooted in false claims of widespread voting fraud."
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In Atlanta City Council news, Samuel Bacote III has entered the race for the District 5 open seat being vacated by Natalyn Archibong.
Bacote ran for state Senate in 2002 and comes from a long line of distinguished Atlantans. He is a grandson of Lottie Watkins, a former Georgia state representative and the first Black woman in Atlanta to be a licensed real estate agent. Bacote’s paternal grandfather, Clarence Bacote, was a prominent leader in the early Civil Rights movement.