Following last week’s speech on the Senate floor, Senator Reverend Warnock spoke with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politically Georgia team on Atlanta’s WABE radio station about the urgent need to secure a negotiated ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war

Senator Reverend Warnock also warned of the dangers of a government shutdown and stressed the importance of Congress doing its job to fully fund the government and prevent a government shutdown

Senator Reverend Warnock secured robust investments in projects and communities across the state in the bipartisan government funding bills 

Joining the show live and in-studio from Atlanta, home of the late civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, Senator Warnock also highlighted his recent introduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect voting rights 

Senator Reverend Warnock: “For the government to shut down, that is a lose-lose for the people of America and the people of Georgia. I’ve gotten some really good things done for Georgia in these funding bills, so I hope we can get it passed”

Above: Senator Warnock makes his debut on Politically Georgia. Listen HERE.  

Atlanta, GA – This week, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politically Georgia show on Atlanta’s WABE 90.1 FM station to highlight the moral urgency of his call for a negotiated ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, his efforts to fully fund the government to deliver key investments across Georgia, and his relentless push to pass legislation restoring the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and protect the right to vote. The interview follows Senator Warnock’s remarks last week on the U.S. Senate floor where he called for a negotiated ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war with the immediate release of hostages, and the opening of humanitarian corridors so that food, water, medicine, and other supplies can be delivered to the people of Gaza. Speaking to the AJC’s Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell, and Bill Nigut, Senator Warnock also explained the importance of Congress finally doing its job and fully funding the government for the entire fiscal year to avoid a shutdown impacting workers and families across Georgia. 

“For the government to shut down, that is a lose-lose for the people of America and the people of Georgia. I’ve gotten some really good things done for Georgia in these funding bills, so I hope we can get it passed. This includes resources that I’ve have secured to address highway infrastructure in Georgia right here in this area down on South Cobb Drive, resources to deal with some of our local smaller airports, we got resources to help with affordable housing both for our rural citizens and those who live in urban areas, and those who are food insecure with resources like SNAP and WIC. All those things are in danger,” said Senator Reverend Warnock.“For those of you who are fiscal hawks out there, and I think we must be responsible with how we spend our tax dollars, government shutdowns actually cost the taxpayers more. It costs billions of dollars to shut the government down; it is a terribly inefficient way to run anything. You wouldn’t run your business like that, you wouldn’t run your office like that; in my case I don’t run my church like that. We ought to do better for the citizens of Georgia.”

In the wide-ranging interview, Senator Warnock highlighted his continued efforts to protect democracy following his recent reintroduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation that would update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have been eroded in recent years by federal court rulings. The legislation would strengthen our democracy by reestablishing preclearance for jurisdictions with a pattern of voting rights violations, protecting minority communities subject to discriminatory voting practices, and defending election workers from threats and intimidation. Senator Warnock also discussed the need for comprehensive immigration reform to address the humanitarian crisis at America’s southern border while also reminding listeners how just last month Washington Republicans voted to block a bipartisan border deal that would provide resources and funding to help address the issue. 

The full interview is available HERE. 

Read key excerpts from the Senator’s interview below:

On the Israel-Hamas war and a peaceful future:

• “I’ve tried to center the Palestinian children, who are dying in numbers that are unconscionable, I have called for the release of Israeli hostages–the brutality that was endured there, the sheer human cruelty, is morally outrageous–and I don’t think it’s impossible to hold those two things in tandem. Maybe it’s because I’m a pastor and who just serves in the Senate, that’s my approach. If this were easy, it would have been resolved a long time ago. It’s not a simple issue, but there are some things that are clear, and I think we are clearly at a point where we ought to recognize that more death and destruction is not the answer to death and destruction.”

• “When I saw what happened on October 7, it certainly broke my heart–rape and sexual assault used as a weapon of war, and just the exercise of cruelty is again inexcusable and unconscionable. Hamas is a terrorist organization. They’re rightly condemned for their actions. Israel would be better without Hamas. The Palestinians, whom they use as human shields, would be better without Hamas. The world would be better without Hamas, but if the standing legacy of what happened on October 7 becomes indiscriminate, escalating violence against innocent civilians, then the ideology of Hamas, which is far greater and stronger than the actual organization, will have won.”

On the need to fully fund the government: 

• “We should not forget how we partly ended up here in the first place. When you look at what’s going on in the House, it’s easy just to focus on a few colorful personalities over there who are jumping up and down. But we ought to ask ourselves how did we get here. And part of that is gerrymandered Congressional districts, which is why we ought to pass these two voting rights bills that we’re trying to get passed. When you have these kind of gerrymandered districts, you end up with extreme people; and if it’s not this set of extreme people, it will be another set of extreme people. And when you have extreme people, you see what happens. The House is tied in knots by a minority; the tail is wagging the dog. […] They’re focused on the next election rather than the next generation, so they have gerrymandered and engineered these districts to win short-term political gains, meanwhile they are tying up the country and tying up their own party.”

• “For the government to shut down, that is a lose-lose for the people of America and the people of Georgia. I’ve gotten some really good things done for Georgia in these funding bills, so I hope we can get it passed. This includes resources that I’ve have secured to address highway infrastructure in Georgia right here in this area down on South Cobb Drive, resources to deal with some of our local smaller airports, we got resources to help with affordable housing both for our rural citizens and those who live in urban areas, and those who are food insecure with resources like SNAP and WIC. All those things are in danger. […] For those of you who are fiscal hawks out there, and I think we have to be responsible with how we spend our tax dollars, government shutdowns actually cost the taxpayers more. It costs billions of dollars to shut the government down; it is a terribly inefficient way to run anything. You wouldn’t run your business like that, you wouldn’t run your office like that; in my case I don’t run my church like that. We ought to do better for the citizens of Georgia.”

On protecting the right to vote: 

• “I will not stop, I will not shrink one moment from fighting for voting rights. Voting rights for me is not just an issue alongside all other issues–it is the very framework in which we get to fight for all the things that matter. Voting rights used to be a bipartisan issue; the last time we reauthorized the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the year was 2006, George Bush was president, it passed the Senate 98-0. So this kind of unabashed assault on voting rights is really two or three steps backwards from where John Lewis brought us. The legislation is rightly named for him and it is a piece of legislation […] addressing the issues that secure our democracy at this moment. I will keep introducing [the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act] until we get it passed.”

On immigration: 

• “I’m always hoping against hope that we’ll find a way to get past our differences, center the people rather than the politics, and get things done. You know we had a bipartisan piece of legislation on the border–by the way, endorsed by the Border Patrol–so the folks right now who are jumping up and down and screaming and yelling, they ought to explain why they voted against a bipartisan proposal. Not only did they vote against a bipartisan proposal to deal with the crisis at the border–and it is a crisis–they voted to block our ability to even have a debate. That is politics in the worst sense.”
  
  
• “There’s really no good reason why we can’t have a debate on that issue. It would provide the resources needed at the border to protect the border to process people much more quickly on the asylum questions. The border patrol–again, the police at the border–support it. And we’ve got politicians in this state and all across the country and in Washington playing games with this. It’s the first time we actually got something passed in a very long time and I think that’s a big deal; and I think they need to explain why they do not want to have a debate on that. I think we know the answer: the closer we get to the election, the more focused on politics people become. Some folks decided that it was better to play politics with this and actually pass something. […] What we’ve been dealing with is patchwork and we already know that that’s not working, so we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

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