Taxpayer dollars at work: Honoring Apalachee victims; lung cancer fight; airport and water upgrades

Caption

Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock gave remarks on the Senate Floor on Monday, September 9, 2024, to honor the four victims of the September 4, 2024, shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.

Credit: Screenshot

Note: In this recurring digital news series, GPB follows your federal tax dollars back to the state of Georgia each week. Neither Sen. Jon Ossoff nor Sen. Raphael Warnock is up for reelection this year — the former will run again in 2026 and the latter in 2028. 

For the week ending Sept. 13, the senators worked on calling for conversation in Congress about gun violence, providing infrastructure upgrades to Georgia airports and rural areas in need of better water quality, and encouraging research on lung cancer prevention.

Apalachee High School

On Sept. 9, Warnock gave remarks on the Senate floor to honor the four victims of the Apalachee High School shooting that took place Sept. 4 in Winder, Ga., in Barrow County.

“We cannot easily pass this over," Warnock said. "We must never forget their names: two dedicated educators, Cristina Irimie and Richard — or “Coach Ricky”, as he was called — Aspinwall, and then two young students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo." 

While on the floor, Warnock called out Congress's lack of action on gun control in the country. 

Per a press release, "Senator Warnock is calling for a serious, bipartisan conversation on Capitol Hill and a commitment to see through a renewed effort to protect innocent children and Americans from the scourge of gun violence.

"We don't have to live this way. We don't have to accept this as a fact of life. In the midst of all of this, we hear often the words, 'We're sending our thoughts and our prayers.' Let me say, as a man of faith, that to say that you are praying while refusing to act is to make a mockery of faith."

Youth substance abuse

On Sept. 9, Ossoff announced that he is delivering $875,000 in federal grant funding under the Drug-Free Communities Support Program to keep children safe from drug addiction and overdoses.

Per a press release, the federal grant funding will “empower seven community programs that promote drug-free environments for Georgia’s youth” in the following counties:

• Barrow
• Bartow
• Coffee
• DeKalb
• Elbert
• Fulton
• Jenkins

Lung cancer prevention 

On Sept. 10, Ossoff announced that he is cosponsoring the bipartisan legislation to improve lung cancer prevention research nationwide.

The Women and Lung Cancer Research and Preventative Services Act would require the U.S. Department of Human Services to conduct an interagency review on the status of women and lung cancer. 

According to a press release, the “interagency review would include data from HHS, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to identify new opportunities for collaborative research and provide recommendations for national cancer screening strategies.”

Georgia airports

On Sept. 13, Ossoff and Warnock announced they secured $63,646,755 in federal funding for Georgia airports under the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP), made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

Awardees for the grant include the following: 

• Columbus Airport
• DeKalb-Peachtree Airport
• Dalton Municipal Airport
• Polk County Airport
• Southwest Georgia Regional Airport
• Augusta Regional Airport
• Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport
• Georgia Department of Transportation

"Georgia is one of the most important aviation states in the nation, and as a member of the committee responsible for aviation policy, I will continue working to strengthen Georgia's transportation infrastructure," Warnock said in a statement. "This latest investment will continue to take Georgia's aviation economy to new heights."

"Georgia's airports are a key driver of job creation and economic competitiveness," Ossoff said in a statement. "Alongside Senator Reverend Warnock, I am pleased to announce the bipartisan infrastructure law will deliver more airport upgrades across the State of Georgia. Our bipartisan infrastructure law will continue to deliver long-overdue upgrades to Georgia's infrastructure for years to come."

Water infrastructure 

On Sept. 13, Warnock and Ossoff announced they are delivering $1.8 million to the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) under the EPA’s Small Underserved, Disadvantaged Communities (SUDC) grant program for water infrastructure upgrades across rural Georgia.

The funding will be distributed to upgrade the water quality of five rural and underserved cities across Georgia, ensuring “Georgia families have access to safe, reliable drinking water,” according to a press release.

With the federal grant funding, the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) will lead the following projects: 

“Clean, safe, healthy drinking water is not a luxury — it’s a necessity,” Ossoff said in a statement. "For families, for seniors, and for businesses in the community, any interruption of safe drinking water is an emergency.

“Clean water is critical to promoting healthy communities — and it is especially important we are doing the work in Washington to make sure our rural communities across Georgia can count on having clean and safe water to drink, care for themselves and their homes, and keep local businesses and economies going,” Warnock said in a statement.