ATLANTA – Georgia’s Fort Gordon and Fort Benning are among nine Army bases that will be getting new names.
The Naming Commission, which Congress created last year to rename military installations named for historical figures with ties to the Confederacy, has developed a list of fewer than 100 names it is considering. The panel will make recommendations to the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services committees by Oct. 1.
Fort Gordon near Augusta is named for John Gordon, who served as a general in the Confederate Army and went on to become Georgia’s governor. Gordon presided at the formal surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, Va., in April 1865.
Fort Benning south of Columbus was named for Henry Benning, who was a leader in Georgia’s secessionist movement before the Civil War. Like Gordon, he was a general in the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Other Army bases due to be renamed include Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Rucker in Alabama; Fort Polk in Louisiana, and forts A.P. Hill, Lee and Pickett in Virginia.
The commission visited the installations last year for listening sessions with military commanders and community leaders and to gain feedback including preferences for new names. During the listening sessions and a public comment period, the panel received more than 34,000 submissions for renaming, including 3,670 unique names.
“It’s important that the names we recommend for these installations appropriately reflect the courage, values and sacrifices of our diverse military men and women,” said retired Navy Admiral Michelle Howard, the chair of the Naming Commission. “We also are considering the local and regional significance of names and their potential to inspire and motivate our service members.”
Suggestions for new names include former President and five-star Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, abolitionist Harriet Tubman, former Gen. and Secretary of State Colin Powell and World War II Gens. Omar Bradley and George Marshall, who also served as secretary of state and secretary of defense.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is pushing to get legislation he introduced last month capping the cost of insulin to the Senate floor by the Easter recess.
The bill would limit the cost of insulin to $35 per month. The measure would apply to private group or individual health plans as well as Medicare.
“I’m interested in lowering the cost of prescription drugs in the first place,” Warnock told Capitol Beat Thursday in an exclusive interview. “[But] in no place is the urgency of this clearer.”
Warnock explained that more than 12% of Georgia adults have diabetes, while diabetes patients account for $1 of every $4 spent on health care in the U.S.
“Insulin has doubled [in cost] over the last four or five years,” he said. “You have to ask yourself why? It’s not research and development. This disease has been around 400 years. … [Drug companies] will engage in price gouging if they can.”
Warnock said he’s working with senators on both sides of the aisle who support a cap on insulin. His bill could be combined with another measure yet to be introduced by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., according to a Democratic source with knowledge of the conversations.
A bill capping the cost of insulin also was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives last month.
Warnock said 20 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation capping patient copays for insulin, including the Republican-led states of Alabama, Oklahoma and Utah.
“This is a bipartisan issue,” he said. “Everybody knows somebody with diabetes.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Most Georgians support the United States developing its own domestic sources of energy rather than relying on other regions of the world, according to a poll released Thursday.
The online survey of a representative cross-section of registered voters conducted March 1-6 by the polling firm Morning Consult found 90% in favor of the U.S. stepping up energy production. The support was split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
An even larger majority – 92% of those surveyed – said the current situation in Europe shows what can happen when nations depend on energy production from foreign sources that have their own agendas. Some European nations have been hampered in their response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by their dependence on Russian oil.
“Given the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the rising cost of energy both at home and abroad, there is no question that access to secure, reliable and affordable energy is top of mind for voters in Georgia,” said David McGowan, Southeast Region director of the American Petroleum Institute (API), which represents the oil and gas industries and commissioned the poll.
“Now is the time for this administration to advance policies that incentivize U.S. production and send a clear message that America is open to energy investment.”
Frank Macchiarola, the API’s senior vice president of policy, said U.S. oil production began losing ground last year when President Joe Biden banned new leases for drilling on federal lands.
“I’d like to see the administration … utilize more of the energy resources we have,” Macchiarola said. “There’s always going to be a need to get energy from some countries. The question is whether we’re going to be overly reliant on certain places.”
Biden banned U.S. imports of Russian oil last week in response to its attack on Ukraine. While that move has been widely supported, the administration has come in for criticism for reaching out to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia to explore replacing Russian oil.
“[The] Keystone XL [pipeline] would deliver 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada,” Macchiarola said. “Now, we’re looking to hostile regions to get energy.”
According to the API Georgia poll, 87% of respondents believe more domestic production of oil and natural gas could help lower energy costs, while 86% said expanding production would help make the U.S. and America’s allies more secure against the actions of other countries such as Russia.
The poll’s margin of error was plus-or-minus 4%.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate unanimously passed legislation Thursday temporarily suspending the state sales tax on gasoline, but not before a lengthy debate over who is to blame for record-high pump prices.
The bill, which the state House of Representatives passed last week, now heads to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
The governor and lawmakers acted after gas prices surged following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Suspension of the tax will save Georgians 29.1 cents per gallon of gasoline, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, said before Thursday’s vote.
“The 29 cents is not going to completely solve the problem,” he said. “But it’s a start and a statement.”
Hufstetler went on to accuse the Biden administration of contributing to higher gas prices through the Democratic president’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL project last year and ban drilling for oil and gas in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and on federal lands in Alaska.
Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, said gas prices started rising well before Russian troops entered Ukraine three weeks ago.
“Gas prices were up last year by $1 a gallon,” he said.
But Senate Democrats said the oil industry is to blame for holding down oil production in the U.S., not the Biden administration. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called on the industry last week to step up production of oil and gas.
“The administration only has control over drilling on federal lands,” said Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. “It’s the fossil-fuel industry’s decision not to drill. … There are permits oil companies have that they’re not accessing … because it’s not cost-effective. They’re making decisions on the expectation that demand for fossil fuels will decrease.”
Hufstetler said temporarily suspending the gas tax will cost the state an estimated $300 million to $400 million in lost revenue. That gap will be covered by reserve funds, he said.
The suspension will expire May 31. Kemp could extend it after that by executive order if he deems it necessary.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Members of the Georgia Supreme Court have unanimously elected Michael Boggs to become the state’s next chief justice.
Boggs, who now serves in the leadership position of presiding justice, will succeed David Nahmias as chief justice in July. Nahmias announced last month he would be leaving the court to spend more time with his family.
Boggs was appointed to the high court in 2016 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal. He was elected to a six-year term two years later.
Before joining the state Supreme Court, Boggs served on the Georgia Court of Appeals – the state’s intermediate appellate court – and as a Superior Court judge in the Waycross Judicial Circuit.
Prior to his judicial service, Boggs served two terms in the state House of Representatives representing a district in southeastern Georgia.
The Supreme Court also unanimously elected Nels S.D. Peterson to take over as presiding justice when Boggs moves up to chief justice.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
