The Atlanta Community Food Bank is gearing up for increased food demand this summer. (Photo credit: Atlanta Community Food Bank)
ATLANTA – Georgians who rely on food stamps are set to see a steep decrease in the amount of money they receive each month starting in June.
That’s because increased food stamp amounts were tied to Georgia’s COVID emergency.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision not to renew Georgia’s COVID emergency declaration in mid-April triggered the end of the federal program that provided extra food aid to almost 777,000 Georgians each month.
Each household received, at the very least, an additional $95 per month, said Kylie Winton, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, which oversees the food stamp program in Georgia. Some families received much more.
But in June, food benefit calculations will return to the pre-COVID method that is tied to a family’s size, income, and expenses, Winton said.
The decrease in food stamps – also called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP – comes at a time of rising food costs.
Georgia can expect “a very abrupt hunger cliff,” said Ellen Vollinger, SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center, an advocacy group in Washington.
“It’s going to hit different households somewhat differently, but it’s going to hit them all and it’s going to them hard,” she said.
State food stamp recipients were receiving close to a total of $119 million each month in the extra pandemic funding, according to Georgia’s latest filing with the federal agency that runs the program.
“That economic boost is going to be lost,” said Vollinger.
“This is going to cause a lot of additional strain for individuals and families,” said Ife Finch Floyd, a senior economic justice policy analyst with the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute in Atlanta. “That may mean you’re buying less food because your other sources of income, your cash, might have to go to other things: rent, utilities, gas.”
Food banks across the state are gearing up for increased demand while also dealing with rising costs of food and fuel prices.
Though food demand is below its initial peak during the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and the first half of 2021, the Atlanta Community Food Bank is still distributing 30% to 35% more food than it did pre-pandemic.
“Our costs are higher at a time when demand is increasing,” said Kyle Waide, the food bank’s president and CEO. The organization is paying more for food and its vehicle costs are up, mostly due to higher fuel prices.
“It was our preference that we find ways to extend the expanded, enhanced SNAP benefits in Georgia,” Waide said. “The state made its decision for a variety of reasons, not just because they didn’t want to extend benefits, but there are other factors that went into that decision.”
“These are complex issues. … We work closely with partners in Washington on both sides of the political spectrum. … Everybody we work with believes that everybody should have enough food.”
Most people who need food assistance, whether from food pantries or food stamps, work, Waide said.
Brandy Roe is one such hard-working Georgian concerned about the upcoming cuts in her food stamp benefits. The mother of five lives in Summerville. She works at a shoe store, and her husband is a mechanic.
“Getting the maximum benefit amount of SNAP really, really helped us be able to get things caught up and try to stay ahead of the game,” Roe said about the increased food benefit amounts.
Roe estimated the amount of food funds her family received increased by about $600, enough to cover almost all of the family’s monthly food costs.
“We’ll do the best we can” when the food aid decreases next month, said Roe. “If it comes down to that, we’ll eat lots of sandwiches.”
Roe said she isn’t convinced the pandemic is over, noting she lost several family members to COVID and has recently noticed longer lines at the Urgent Care she passes on her way home from work.
“Maybe Georgia has really jumped the gun,” she said.
Earlier this spring, the General Assembly passed an omnibus mental health reform bill aimed at turning around the state’s dismal mental health outcomes.
But without an adequate supply of nutritious food, it could be hard to address the mental health issues facing the state, said Dr. Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Obesity and Food Policy at the University of Connecticut.
“There is research showing that you are at higher risk of mental health issues like depression and anxiety if you’re food insecure,” Schwartz said. “To think you can address mental health when you’re not addressing just basic needs, like food and housing, you’re not going to get very far.”
Earlier this month, Kemp announced the award of millions of dollars from federal relief funds to Georgia organizations to help offset the economic impact of the pandemic.
Family members Helen Hines, Mary Margaret Hines Doyle, and James Harris “Hap” Hines unveil a portrait of late Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harris Hines (photo credit: Supreme Court of Georgia)
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court hosted a ceremony for the unveiling of a commemorative portrait of former Chief Justice Harris Hines on Thursday.
A quintessential Atlantan, Hines attended Midtown (formerly Grady) High School and Emory University, where he majored in political science. He graduated from Emory Law School in 1968. He then moved to Cobb County, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Hines began his judicial career when then-Gov. Jimmy Carter appointed him to the Cobb County State Court in 1974.
Hines went on to win a seat on the Cobb County Superior Court before then-Gov. Zell Miller appointed him to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1995.
Georgia-born artist Suzanne Royal painted the portrait. The portrait unveiling was originally slated to take place in spring 2020 but was postponed by COVID.
“I truly believe you caught his twinkle,” said Hines’ daughter, Mary Margaret Hines Doyle, of the portrait.
Another former Chief Justice, Harold Melton, described Hines’ “commitment and fidelity to the law,” saying his mentor was “enraptured’ by the law.
Hines also set a congenial tone on the court, Melton said.
“The legacy that continues today is a legacy of each justice being a complete justice, bringing their full thoughts, having honest opinions, and then having time together in real fellowship,” Melton said of Hines’ impact on the Supreme Court.
Melton also paid tribute to the support Hines’ widow Helen provided the justice over their long marriage.
It was Mrs. Hines who encouraged her husband to reach out to Melton after Melton was featured in the Marietta Daily Journal for his work in student government at Auburn University.
Hines took Melton out to lunch, starting a mentorship that would last for years.
“Hard work, courtesy, integrity, and kindness are the real legacy Harris leaves,” said Mrs. Hines of her late husband.
Hines served on the Supreme Court until 2018, resigning in August of that year. He was killed in a car crash a mere two months later.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath testifies before a House hearing on abortion rights in Washington on Wednesday
ATLANTA – U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, shared her painful story of multiple miscarriages before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion rights Wednesday.
Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., called the hearing in response to the leak of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion about two weeks ago. That draft opinion indicates the court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that gave American women the right to an abortion.
McBath raised the specter of the criminalization of miscarriage if abortion is outlawed, saying that she would not have had access to adequate medical care during her three miscarriages if abortion had been illegal.
“After which failed pregnancy should I have been imprisoned? Would it have been after the first miscarriage, after doctors used what would be an illegal drug to abort the lost fetus?,” McBath asked.
“I ask because the same medicine used to treat my failed pregnancies is the same medicine states like Texas would make illegal. I ask because if Alabama makes abortion murder, does it make miscarriage manslaughter?”
McBath is one of a growing number of women who have decided to publicly share their stories of abortion and miscarriage in response to the specter of losing the right to abortion. State Rep. Shea Roberts, D-Atlanta, shared her story of ending an unviable pregnancy during a press conference in Atlanta earlier this month.
“Women’s rights are human rights. Reproductive health care is health care. Medical decisions should be made by women and those that they trust, not politicians and officials,” McBath proclaimed at the end of her testimony.
“Freedom is our right to choose.”
McBath currently represents Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in Washington. However, Georgia’s recent redistricting process redrew the district lines to make it much more Republican-leaning.
Rather than take her chances running against a Republican in the 6th District in the November general election, McBath decided to run against current U.S. Rep. Carolyn Bordeaux, D-Suwanee, for the 7th District seat in next week’s Democratic primary.
The battle between the two is one of the most hotly contested Democratic races in the May 24 primary.
NARAL, a national pro-choice advocacy group, endorsed both McBath and Bordeaux last year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton stands in front of a portrait of the Georgia Supreme Court that includes him. Melton argued in the Supreme Court on behalf of health insurer Anthem this week.
Two health-care players embroiled in a legal controversy that could affect hundreds of thousands of Georgians’ health care faced off in state Supreme Court Tuesday.
Lawyers for Anthem (Blue Cross Blue Shield), a large health insurance company, and Northside, an Atlanta hospital system, debated the meaning of “public health emergency” and jurisdiction over legal appeals.
The dispute is rooted in Anthem’s decision to terminate Northside from its insurance network in May 2021. Anthem claims it dropped the Atlanta hospital system because Northside “billed exorbitant sums [to Anthem] over the years” and was “an extreme outlier in costs among Anthem’s contracted providers,” according to a brief filed with the court.
The insurer and hospital tried to negotiate a solution but were unable to come to an agreement.
Northside then filed a lawsuit against Anthem last December just before the planned termination was to take effect. A Fulton County judge issued an injunction forestalling Anthem’s termination of Northside from the Anthem insurance network.
Anthem has now appealed that injunction to the Georgia Supreme Court.
One legal issue centers around the definition of “public health emergency.” That’s because the General Assembly passed a law during the 2021 session prohibiting insurers from dropping health-care providers from their networks during and for 150 days after a “public health emergency.”
Northside contends that the 2021 statutory reform should bar Anthem from dropping the hospital system from its insurance network.
But what, exactly, is a public health emergency under the terms of the new law?
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton – representing Anthem – argued for a narrow definition of a public health emergency, while Northside lawyer Robert Highsmith Jr. argued for a broader definition.
The Supreme Court’s jurisdiction for determining constitutionality of the Fulton County trial court’s injunction was another issue Melton and Highsmith debated.
The legal issues may appear arcane to most Georgians. But two justices pointed out that ordinary Georgians are affected by the failure of the two parties to reach an agreement and urged them to come to terms with each other.
“It might be to the benefit of everybody for y’all just to work this out and moot this case,” noted Justice Nels S.D. Peterson during the arguments.
Tuesday’s appearance was former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton’s first in his old courtroom as a lawyer, not a judge. Melton was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court by then-Governor Sonny Perdue in 2005. Melton stepped down in 2021.
Neither side would comment to the media, though Melton did term his first appearance on the other side of the bench “nerve-wracking.”
Democratic Party leaders exhorted their members to work hard to turn out voters in November in Georgia at the party’s state dinner in downtown Atlanta on Friday night.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar were among the leaders who urged the party faithful to ensure Democrats repeat their 2020 success in Georgia.
Speakers zeroed in on the difference between the Democratic and Republican approaches to health care as a key reason party members should recommit to getting Democrats elected in November.
“A Democratic governor would never allow a hospital to close in Randolph County and a hospital to close in Commerce, Ga., and a hospital to close in East Point in Atlanta,” Abrams said. “We would not let a hospital close when people’s lives are on the line.
“We care about the people of our state…Yes, we want to have new plants and new jobs. But Medicaid expansion will bring us 64,000 jobs, bring us $3.5 billion a year, give half a million people access to health care, provide mental health support to thousands of Georgians, and it will do it all without raising a dime in taxes.”
Depending on the results of the upcoming May 24 Republican primary, Abrams will face off against either incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, challenger David Perdue, or one of three lesser-known candidates. Incumbent Kemp is the current GOP frontrunner.
Another hotly contested top-of-ballot race will pit incumbent senator Warnock against one of six Republicans currently vying for that party’s nomination – most likely former University of Georgia football star Herschel Walker.
Warnock touted Democratic accomplishments over the last two years, such as passing the American Rescue Plan, infrastructure investments, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first African-American woman to be appointed to the court.
“Georgia, you made all of these things possible by showing up in historic numbers,” Warnock said, calling on party members to show up again because “the soul of our country is at stake.”
Warnock said he would continue to work on his proposal to cap insulin prices at $35 a month and that he supports a woman’s right to choose an abortion.
“I just happen to think a patient’ s room is too small and cramped a space for a woman, a doctor and the United States government,” Warnock said.
“If you really have a reverence for life, try this out: expand Medicaid in Georgia,” he urged.
Warnock also called on President Joe Biden to take immediate executive action to forgive student loan debt, explaining that he was able to study at Morehouse College only because of Pell grants and low-interest student loans.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar also spoke, noting that election results will determine a woman’s right to have an abortion.
“For the first time in generations, the women in this country will have less rights than their mothers and grandmothers,” Klobuchar said. “Get mad and vote.”
So far, early voting in the state’s primaries has set records. As of Thursday, more than 330,000 Georgians had already voted, according to a press release from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Of those, 137,226, or 41%, were cast in the Democratic primary.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced that Atlanta will bid to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
