Ossoff, Warnock slam Trump tax, spending bill they fought

WASHINGTON - Georgia’s U.S. senators voted against President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill on Tuesday and decried it as a “disaster” for the Peach State.

Senate Republicans passed the measure by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said the legislation would kick more than 16 million Americans off their health care, including 750,000 Georgians, raise premiums for 1.2 million Georgians, and threaten 66 rural Georgia hospitals.

MORE FROM NEWS 12

Politics: Latest on the administration

1. Trump says migrants would need to know ‘how to run away from an alligator’ to flee Florida facility
2. Federal judge seeks clarity on whether birthright citizenship order means babies could be deported
3. Trump administration sues Los Angeles, claiming the city refuses to cooperate on immigration
4. Trump administration finds Harvard failed to protect Jewish students, threatens to cut all funding
5. Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade talks with U.S. resume

“Today’s vote is a disappointing reminder that Washington politicians aren’t working for ordinary people,” Warnock said Tuesday.

“But the power of the people is more powerful than the people in power. As the pastor of Dr. King’s church, I understand that our fight is not about any one vote, but about a moral vision for a world where all of God’s children can succeed.”

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Da., held a news conference to discuss his vote against the bill that is bad for Georgia.

“This bill is a disaster for the state of Georgia. It guts the Medicaid program and puts nursing homes and hospitals at risk. It will drive up health insurance premiums for working and middle-class families in Georgia, and it takes a hatchet to the fast-growing industry that is driving Georgia’s economic development,” Ossoff said.

He called for Republicans in the state’s U.S. House delegation to “put Georgia ahead of partisanship and oppose a bill that is bad for Georgia’s health and bad for Georgia’s economy.”

The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson had warned senators not to deviate too far from what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems as they race to finish by Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.