ATLANTA – Both of Georgia’s U.S. senators put aside their concerns over how the debt limit agreement reached by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would affect spending on federal programs to vote for the deal.
Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock joined 61 of their colleagues from both sides of the aisle Thursday night to give the legislation final passage. Thirty-six senators opposed the agreement, including five Democrats.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill on Wednesday, with Georgia’s House delegation voting 10-4 in favor of the deal. Six of the Peach State’s nine House Republicans supported the legislation, as did four of the five Democrats.
The legislation will raise the nation’s debt limit for the next two years in exchange for spending caps pushed by congressional Republicans. GOP lawmakers who voted against the bill argued the spending cuts didn’t go far enough, while Democratic opponents maintained the reductions were too steep.
“Today, the Congress acted to prevent a catastrophic default, which would have plunged the U.S. and global economies into recession and severely damaged families and businesses in Georgia, across the country, and around the world,” Ossoff said after Thursday night’s vote.
“It’s shameful that partisan actors and their political brinksmanship needlessly pushed us toward a potential default in the first place, using poor people as pawns,” Warnock added. “I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed and crafted a bipartisan bill that will allow us to pay our bills and avoid a default, while also preserving important investments that help hardworking Georgia families and keep our economy strong.”
Congressional passage of the debt limit deal heads off a June 5 deadline for the nation to start making good on its debts or go into default for the first time in U.S. history.
ATLANTA – The board of Atlanta’s regional transit agency gave the go-ahead Thursday to a contract with an engineering consultant to design the addition of mass transit to the Top End of Interstate 285.
CDM Smith of Sandy Springs will incorporate high-capacity bus-rapid transit (BRT) service into a project that will add two barrier-separated toll lanes in each direction along 35 miles of I-285 from its interchange with I-20 west of Atlanta all the way around to the I-285/I-20 interchange east of the city. The project is aimed at providing more reliable trip times for all vehicles, including BRT buses.
The $6.7 million planning and design contract – not to exceed $7.5 million – was put together by a consortium including Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and DeKalb counties, eight cities along the route, the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (ATL), the Georgia Department of Transportation, and MARTA.
“This is a very significant effort and a truly regional approach,” Cain Williamson, the ATL’s chief planning officer, told ATL board members before Thursday’s vote.
“It’s a historic demonstration of partnership in the region,” added Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry. “It’s a holistic look at transportation.”
The contract with CDM Smith, which the MARTA board already has approved, will run for two years with two one-year extension options.
The scope of the consultant’s work will include exploring location options for BRT stations, conceptual station designs and station area planning, environmental impact, cost estimates, and an analysis of potential funding sources.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s U.S. House delegation did not split along the usual party lines over controversial legislation raising the federal debt limit.
Ten House members from Georgia – including six of the delegation’s 10 Republicans – voted Wednesday night in favor of an agreement hammered out by President Joe Biden and GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to increase the debt limit for an additional two years in exchange for cuts in federal spending.
On the other hand, Democratic Rep. Nikema Williams of Atlanta bucked House Democratic leadership and the White House by voting against the bill, joining three Georgia Republicans in voting “no.”
The House vote came as the nation faced a deadline of June 5 for raising the debt limit to avoid the U.S. government going into default for the first time in the nation’s history, an event economists warned would trigger a recession.
To reach a deal with McCarthy, Biden agreed to keep non-defense spending relatively flat during the next fiscal year and increase it by just 1% in fiscal 2025.
“House Republicans held the American people hostage so they could inflict cruel cuts,” Williams said following the vote. “I could not vote for an agreement that puts my constituents on the chopping block.”
But Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson of Stone Mountain, Sanford Bishop of Albany, David Scott of Atlanta, and Lucy McBath of Marietta voted for the deal.
“I congratulate [the president] for a shrewdly negotiated debt ceiling bill that protects our economy, protects against MAGA hostage taking for two years, and protects Americans from cruel MAGA social safety net cuts,” Johnson said.
On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, went against many of her conservative Republican colleagues and sided with McCarthy in voting for the bill.
“I agree with my conservative friends on some of the flaws in the FRA (Fiscal Responsibility Act), and I’ve never wanted to raise the debt ceiling on debt that I never voted to create,” she said. “But I came to Washington to make changes, and this bill actually provides a tool that gives us a chance to make those fiscal changes.”
Georgia Republicans joining Greene in voting for the legislation included Reps. Austin Scott of Tifton, Buddy Carter of Savannah, Barry Loudermilk of Cassville, Rick Allen of Augusta, and Drew Ferguson of West Point.
Republicans Andrew Clyde of Athens, Mike Collins of Jackson, and Rich McCormick of Suwanee voted against the legislation.
“At best, the ‘Fiscal Responsibility Act’ … is a modest attempt to address the skyrocketing national debt Congress has ignored for far too long,” McCormick said. “Republicans had the ability to tackle this problem years ago when we had the White House and commanding majorities in Congress.”
The bill, which cleared the House 314-117, now moves to the U.S. Senate for a vote later this week.
