Peach State Politics (March 12, 2021)
Updates on Georgia's COVID-19 vaccinations and a look at the role our state played in the passing of President Biden's stimulus bill. Plus, the debate over Daylight Saving Time
This week, we’re doing something a little different in the newsletter. We are going to take a break from the campaign trail and the election bill drama in the Georgia Legislature and instead spend this week’s edition going over the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Georgia, as well as the various roles that our state played in the passing of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. We will also go over the latest news from Washington and discuss the debate over whether we should continue to change our clocks twice a year.
Kemp expands vaccine eligibility as Georgia’s vaccination rate lags
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp continues to expand vaccine eligibility. Two weeks after announcing that school teachers can now receive the vaccine, the Republican announced this week that he would be lowering the age for eligible Georgians to 55 and older. This means that the Governor himself, who is 57, is now eligible to be vaccinated.
He also expanded eligibility to adults who have chronic health conditions, including asthma, high blood pressure, pregnancy, diabetes and obesity. More information on who is eligible for the vaccine can be found here.
The expansion comes as Georgia continues to lag behind the rest of the country in vaccination rates. A study from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) found that Georgia ranks 51st — dead last — on the list of all 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.) by percentage of residents who have received at least one dose.
As of Thursday, 13.4% of Georgians have been given at least one does of a vaccine. For context, 18.8% of the entire country has received at least one dose. This makes Georgia one of 20 states with a lower vaccination rate than that of the entire country.
In addition to the Governor’s vaccine expansion, President Joe Biden announced in a Thursday night primetime address that he will be ordering all 50 states to make all adults eligible for the vaccine by no later than May 1. He said that he would like to see the country return to some form of normalcy by the 4th of July.
Former Presidents appear in vaccine PSA
Four of our country’s living former Presidents — including Georgia’s own Jimmy Carter, appeared in a public service announcement stressing the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The 96-year-old Carter, who recently announced that he is once again attending in-person church services, said in the video that he is getting vaccinated because he wants the pandemic to be over “as soon as possible.” The PSA can be viewed below.
One noticeable absence from the video: former President Donald Trump, who was hospitalized with COVID-19 himself last October. He and former First Lady Melania Trump were quietly vaccinated before leaving the White House in January.
Georgia Democrats vote to pass stimulus bill
Georgia was once again back in the spotlight in our nation’s capital, this time playing a key role in the passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. On Wednesday, Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff joined Georgia’s House Democrats at a press conference to celebrate the passing of the bill. “Thank God for Georgia,” Sen. Warnock declared, reminding everyone that this bill would not have passed if he and Ossoff had not been elected to the Senate. Sen. Ossoff said that the bill is economic stimulus “from the bottom up, from the middle out, not from the top down.” You can watch the entire press conference here.
Democratic congressional leaders also took note of Georgia’s critical role in the bill’s passage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a tweet on Thursday thanking the people of Georgia for making the bill possible.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also gave a shoutout to Rep. Nikema Williams, who currently chairs the Georgia Democratic Party and now occupies the Atlanta House seat that was long held by the late Rep. John Lewis. “In some ways, she made today possible,” Pelosi said of Williams.
Georgia Republicans call stimulus a “Blue State Bailout”
As Georgia Democrats were preparing to celebrate the bill’s passage, controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attempted to adjourn the House session on Wednesday to stall the final vote on the bill. The Northwest Georgia Republican said that it was irresponsible for the federal government to spend money like this, and said that less than 10% of the bill’s funding actually addresses COVID-19 relief.
Greene’s Republican colleagues expressed similar sentiments. In a statement, Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Cassville accused Democrats of being hypocrites for not following science and said that the bill is six and a half times larger than it needs to be.
“All the economy needs before it comes roaring back is a full and complete reopening, not endless shutdowns or payouts to liberal states and special interest groups. Of the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion package, only nine percent is COVID-related spending; the rest goes to things like bailing out poorly run states, funding to foreign countries, and climate change – making it ‘the most progressive legislation in a generation, according to the White House. Why are Democrats lying to the American people and saying this bill is about COVID relief?”
- Rep. Barry Loudermilk
Loudermilk’s full statement can be read here.
Georgia to receive up to $5 billion from stimulus bill
As $1,400 stimulus checks begin reaching the bank accounts and mailboxes of most Georgians, the state government is gearing up to receive between $4 billion and $5 billion in funding from the bill. Republican state leaders, who have criticized the bill, are still not sure how they plan on using the money. After all, it’s not every day that states receive billions of dollars in aid from the federal government.
Gov. Brian Kemp, who believes that the bill disproportionately benefits states that remain locked down at the expense of states that reopened early, has signaled that he is unlikely to turn down the money but believes that it comes with “strings attached.” He said in an interview that the bill will prevent the state from providing tax incentives to businesses and issuing tax cuts that are currently being debated in the Georgia Legislature.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston also had sharp words for President Biden’s stimulus bill. The Blue Ridge Republican sent a letter to Biden raising concerns about what the bill will mean for those tax cuts. “In Georgia, we have prioritized providing tax relief to our citizens, and [the American Rescue Plan] appears to prohibit that relief,” Ralston wrote to the President. “I pray that you will prevail upon Congress to have this flaw in the legislation corrected before signing it into law.”
State Democrats, meanwhile, have said that the money should be used to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The bill provides Georgia and other states with incentives to expand Medicaid, but Republicans have long dismissed it as too expensive. Expect lengthy discussions on how all of this money will be spent.
This Week in Washington
Let’s take a look at some of the other big headlines out of our nation’s capital this week:
President Biden and Vice President Harris will visit Atlanta next week as part of a nationwide trip to tout stimulus bill
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R) praised part of the stimulus bill despite voting against it
House narrowly passes gun control and background check bills
Senate votes 70-30 to confirm Judge Merrick Garland as U.S. Attorney General
Rep. Marcia Fudge resigns from House after being confirmed as Secretary of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), further reducing Democrats’ House majority
Entrenched Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt (R) announced that he will not seek re-election in 2022, setting off a potentially crowded Republican primary in this increasingly red state
Pressure ramps up on the White House to address a surge in migrant arrests at the U.S./Mexico border
Halfway through his first 100 days in office, President Biden maintains a 53% approval rating, according to FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average
Could “Spring Forward, Fall Back” soon be a thing of the past?
Finally, it’s that time of the year when we “Spring Forward.” Daylight Saving Time (DST) will resume in most of the United States this weekend, so this is your reminder to turn your clocks ahead by one hour before you go to sleep on Saturday night.
You’ll notice that I said “most of the United States,” not the entire country. That’s because two states — Arizona and Hawaii — do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Here’s a fascinating article that explains why Arizonans do not take part in the annual “Spring Forward, Fall Back” ritual.
Calls to end the twice-a-year time change have grown louder over the years. Several state legislatures have introduced bills seeking to make DST permeant, from Illinois, to Georgia, Florida and North Dakota. Those calls have even reached Capitol Hill, where a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators have introduced a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
Opponents have pointed to studies that show that the time changes have negative impacts on our health. Hospitals have reported increases in heart attack visits every March, particularly during the week when clocks move forward. It is also believed that the time change leads to increases in car accidents due to tired drivers in the spring and early sunsets in the fall. And with most Americans isolated from the general public these days, the emotional toll of the time change has been especially concerning. From Business Insider:
“DST also causes more reports of injuries at work, more strokes, and may lead to a temporary increase in suicides.”
The modern concept of changing clocks was proposed by Benjamin Franklin, who argued that it would help cut down on the usage of candles. During World War I, energy advocates argued that moving clocks forward would help conserve energy and make better usage of daylight. But several recent studies have raised questions about whether the “conserve energy” argument still holds up.
There are lots of arguments for and against the twice-a-year time change, but the debate will continue to rage on in state legislatures and in Washington for several years. Because the process to make Daylight Saving Time permeant isn’t as easy as it sounds: a state must ask Congress for approval to observe DST year-round. So a debate over year-round DST could soon be coming to a statehouse near you.