Taxpayer dollars at work: Agriculture aid post-Helene, improving state prisons, south border smuggling

Caption

Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock spoke on the Senate floor on November 22, 2024, to ask colleagues to approve additional federal investments to support families impacted by recent natural disasters.

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 Nov. 22, the senators focused on pushing Congress to provide agricultural assistance to Georgia after the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, urging the state of Georgia to improve prison conditions following the Department of Justice's investigation of Georgia's prisons, and worked for more federal protections against human smuggling at the southern U.S. border.

Veterans affording homes

On Nov. 13, Ossoff and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced bipartisan legislation to help veterans and their families qualify for home loans under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Per a press release, the Veterans Home Loan Fairness Act would remove the consideration of child care expenses “from debt-to-income ratio calculations when veterans and their families are applying for home loans through the VA.”

The legislation would help provide benefits to make it easier to afford homes, including no down payment requirement, no private mortgage insurance requirement, lower interest rates and limited closing costs.

“We can never do enough to support our heroic veterans and their families.," Ossoff said. "That’s why Senator Rubio and I are introducing this new bipartisan bill to help our veterans afford homes.”

Special diabetes program

On Nov. 13, Warnock and Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) led a bipartisan push via letter to Senate leadership to reauthorize the Special Diabetes Program (SDP) in honor of November being Diabetes Awareness Month.

The program, secured in March of this year, expires Dec. 31 unless Congress takes action to keep it.

According to a press release, the program “consists of two components: the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes Research, which supports research to prevent, treat, and cure Type 1 diabetes and its complications; and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians which supports diabetes treatment and prevention strategies for American Indian and Alaska Native populations who are disproportionately burdened with Type 2 diabetes.”

With over 37 million Americans living with diabetes, one of the country's most expensive diseases, the senators are urging Congress to continue to help through the Special Diabetes Program.

“Diabetes is one of our country’s most costly diseases in both human and economic terms, affecting people of all ages and races, and in every region of our country,” the senators wrote. “Approximately 1 in 4 health care dollars and one in three Medicare dollars are spent treating people with diabetes. 

“Diabetes costs our nation $412.9 billion in 2022. Medical expenditures for individuals diagnosed with diabetes are roughly 2.6 times higher than expenditures for those without the disease.

“For 27 years, the Special Diabetes Program has delivered meaningful resources and research breakthroughs for the 38.4 million Americans with diabetes and 97.6 million with prediabetes,” the senators continued. “It is essential that we continue to invest in the research necessary to develop a cure for diabetes, as well as support the programs that help prevent and treat the disease and its complications.”

Southern border smuggling

On Nov. 14, Ossoff and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced bipartisan legislation to improve the federal prosecution and crackdown on human smuggling at the southern border.

The legislation comes after federal authorities have reported that in recent years, there has been a rise in the kidnapping and extortion of migrants in border cities. 

Per a press release, “the Department of Justice has reported that the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (USSG) for those convicted of human smuggling crimes fail to address the scope of these tragedies and that their shortcomings make it harder to prosecute smugglers caught at the border.”

The Border Smuggling Crackdown Act would update sentencing guidelines to guarantee that penalties reflect the number of humans smuggled and the number of persons injured or murdered in a smuggling operation.

“Criminals and human traffickers who exploit and smuggle human beings across our southern border must pay a heavy price," Ossoff said in a statement. "They threaten our national security and exploit victims of trafficking,”

Safer streets

On Nov. 15, Warnock and Ossoff announced that they secured over $5 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for Georgia localities to create action plans to improve their communities' road safety for bicyclists, pedestrians and drivers. 

The funding would also help improve road connectivity.

According to the press release, Bipartisan Infrastructure established the Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, which will provide grants of over $5 billion over the next few years.

The release states that "the funding supports local initiatives through competitive grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries."

"Safer streets are about protecting lives and bolstering safety for all our neighbors; Senator Ossoff and I will continue to work to deliver even more investments to upgrade our state's transportation infrastructure so Georgians can have safer communities and stronger connectivity," Warnock said in a statement.

The grant recipients are the following:

• Atlanta Regional Commission - $3,031,920
• City of Chattahoochee Hills - $180,000
• City of Dublin - $104,000
• City of Hartwell - $160,000
• City of Norcross - $248,000
• Glynn County Board of Commissioners - $320,000
• River Valley Regional Commission - $600,000
• University of Georgia - $630,000
• Whitfield County - $160,000

State prisons

On Nov. 19, Ossoff and Warnock urged the state of Georgia to improve prison conditions following the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into Georgia's prison, which they found unconstitutional.

 The DOJ reported in their investigation that Georgia "engages in a pattern or practice of violating incarcerated persons' constitutional rights."

The senators wrote to Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver, asking him to address the investigation's findings.

"On October 1, 2024, DOJ's Civil Rights Division published the findings from its investigation of Georgia prisons," the senators wrote. "Among its findings are that there is reason to believe the State of Georgia and GDC (1) fail to protect incarcerated people from violence and harm by other incarcerated people in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and (2) fail to protect incarcerated people from harm caused by sexual violence in violation of the Eighth Amendment. DOJ further found that the State and GDC are 'deliberately indifferent' to unsafe conditions in state prisons.

"In light of DOJ's alarming findings, we urge GDC to give DOJ's findings due consideration and act swiftly to remedy the troubling state of Georgia state prisons."

Agriculture assistance

On Nov. 20, Ossoff testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations about the urgency of passing agricultural assistance for Georgia after Hurricane Helene's damage.

Ossoff mentioned that while the numbers are "staggering," the priority is helping families and communities in need.

"Without our help, the simple fact is that many of these family farms will fold, and they may fold soon," Ossoff testified. "They're staring at devastated farmland and orchards, they're deep in the red, and they're under immense stress. If they go under, our rural communities go under. The local tax base funding schools and infrastructure is destroyed. And the rural way of life in Georgia risks disappearing altogether."

"We must refuse the temptation to delay or to get dragged into politics," Ossoff added. "We must swiftly pass disaster assistance by the end of the year. My constituents and Americans in every state hit by this terrible storm — and hit by natural disasters for the last several years — are counting on all of us."

Agriculture industry

On Nov. 21, the Senate passed Warnock and Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) bipartisan legislation to support a specialized group of K-9 units stationed at airports and ports of entry to stop the spread of foreign animal diseases.

The Beagle Brigade Act permanently allows the dogs to work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Detector Dog Training Center, which is based in Newton, Georgia.

According to a press release, the training center trains beagles and other skilled dogs to inspect luggage, vehicles, cargo, and packages entering the country. 

“These four-legged detectives play a vital role in identifying prohibited agricultural items that could introduce harmful pests, invasive plants, or dangerous viruses into the United States,” it states.

“Every day, USDA’s National Detector Dog Training Center in Newnan plays an essential role in keeping our food supply safe from contamination. This legislation permanently authorizes their work and will continue to strengthen our nation’s agriculture industry and the well-being of our communities,” Warnock said in a statement.

Natural disaster federal investments

On Nov. 22, following President Biden's request for $100 billion from Congress for natural disaster assistance funding, Warnock asked his Senate colleagues to approve the additional federal investments to help support families impacted by recent natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.

Per a press release, in his Senate floor remarks, Warnock "highlighted the struggles of Georgia's farmers and families and outlined how the additional disaster assistance would help local communities, particularly Georgia's rural and agricultural communities, recover."

In his breakdown of the struggles, Warnock said, "At its peak, Helene left more than one million Georgians without power, 300 boil water advisories across the state, over 200,000 homes with some level of damage, and countless communities facing a long road to recovery.

"Most tragically, 228 individuals perished in Helene's devastation. Thirty-four of them were Georgians, and six of them were children. And so, as we pray with our lips for those we lost, we must pray with our legs to help those still reeling and recovering from this devastation. While Congress was out of session last month, because I understood the urgency, I called on the Senate to come back to Washington to pass additional disaster assistance funding. Weeks have passed since then, but the urgency remains."