On Wednesday morning, Senator Reverend Warnock joined V-103 and WABE, respectively, to discuss how the landmark Build Back Better economic package will benefit Georgians across the state

Senator Reverend Warnock spoke on his efforts in Washington to close the Medicaid coverage gap, extend the expanded Child Tax Credit for working families, strengthen critical funding for HBCU campus infrastructure, provide debt relief to economically-distressed farmers, and protect the sacred right to vote

Senator Reverend Warnock: “The Build Back Better and Bipartisan Infrastructure bill—we need them both. They both have a lot of good things for Georgians and I am fighting every day to make sure we keep certain things in this package.”

Senator Reverend Warnock: “There are a lot of issues that we debate, discuss, and work on in Congress—but the democracy itself is the framework in which we can have these debates. I will do everything I can to make sure we protect the integrity of our democracy.”

ICYMI: Breaking: Senator Reverend Warnock Applauds Inclusion of His Provision to Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap in Build Back Better Framework – MORE HERE

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) discussed the importance of passing the Build Back Better economicplan for Georgia and his strong commitment to working to pass federal voting rights legislation during two Atlanta radio interviews.

Senator Warnock joined V-103’s Big Tigger Morning Show and then spoke with WABE’s Rahul Bali about his top priorities in the economic package, including his constructive efforts to include provisions in the legislation that would: close the Medicaid coverage gap for an estimated 275,000 Georgians; extend the expanded Child Tax Credit that is providing monthly payments to 97% of American families; invest in campus repairs and restoration at HBCUs that have long gone under-resourced; and provide significant relief to small and economically-distressed farmers who have struggled before and during the pandemic. Congress expects to complete work on the Build Back Better Act within the coming days. Additionally, Senator Warnock spoke at length about the importance of voting rights, including encouraging Georgians to make their voices heard in upcoming elections throughout the state, and highlighting the urgency of passing federal legislation to protect the sacred right to vote in the face of state-level voter suppression efforts sweeping the nation.

Listen to the full V-103 and WABE interview here.

Key excerpts from Senator Reverend Warnock’s interviews:

“The Build Back Better and Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill—we need them both. They both have a lot of good things in it for Georgians and I’m fighting every day to make sure that we keep certain things in this package.”

“It is important to emphasize that this [expanded Child Tax Credits] is a tax cut. That’s what it is and that gets lost. When you start talking about poor people, ordinary people, working-class people, it is a certain attitude that some in this body where I work have and I have to remind them this is a tax cut. And I didn’t see all of this argumentation when the Trump tax cut went through 2017, $2 trillion to people who needed the least while taking resources from those who needed the most. This is a tax cut for ordinary folks.”

“I’ve been working really hard to make sure that we get care to the people in the coverage gap. Georgia is one of 12 states that’s still refusing to expand Medicaid, which means that working class people— I’m talking about folks who are not poor enough to get conventional Medicaid but not wealthy do not have enough resources to afford private insurance— are caught in a gap and people are literally dying in Georgia and across the country in our 12 non-expansion states.”

“We are providing resources to historically black colleges and universities. I’m excited about my [IGNITE] HBCU Excellence Act which will position our HBCUs to participate in research and development and the grants associated with that in a way that they haven’t in the past. We provided debt relief to these HBCUs for their capital projects. So rather than putting that money in their buildings, they can put it in our students and in their faculty. And we’re providing debt relief for farmers among other things.”

“There are a lot of issues that we debate, discuss, and work on here in the Congress. But the democracy itself is the framework in which we get to have these debates. The only reason we get to act on climate change—which is an existential threat—the only reason we get to have a debate about health care where the poor people can get it and the working poor can get it, the only reason we get to have a debate about childcare, about taxes, about a whole range of subjects is because somebody voted for us and sent us here to represent them in Congress.”

“I’m going do everything I can to make sure that we protect the integrity of our democracy. The most powerful words uttered in our democracy are the people have spoken. And I want to make sure that the people’s voices are always heard on the floor of the United States Senate in the Congress and in the halls of power.”

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