by Ty Tagami | Nov 7, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The federal government said Friday that it will comply with a judge’s order to issue full benefits for this month to its food assistance program for low-income households.
In a letter to state directors of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, Patrick A. Penn, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official who oversees the program, said the agency “will complete the processes necessary” to make funds available and comply with an order Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island.
Previously, the administration of President Donald Trump had said it only had enough funding during the government shutdown to cover about half of November SNAP benefits and said that is how much it would send to states to distribute among recipients.
Penn, the USDA under secretary for Food Nutrition, and Consumer Services, had said in a court filing Monday that the decision to cut deposits in half would delay distribution “anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months.”
Reducing the payouts would have forced states to reconfigure their systems that calculate how much each recipient receives, contributing to delays.
Penn’s letter was sent to the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS), which uses a contractor to distribute SNAP benefits to recipients’ electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards.
“We are working with Conduent, the State’s EBT vendor, to establish a timeline and process for benefit issuances,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
Penn sent his letter on the 38th day of a record-breaking government shutdown. His agency’s website bore a prominent message blaming Democrats and accusing the party of compromising SNAP and other programs, including food inspection, for political “leverage” points involving “gender mutilation” and “healthcare for illegals.”
SNAP disbursals to Georgia recipients have already been delayed at least two days. Distributions usually begin on the fifth of each month for a program that feeds 1.4 million Georgia residents, many of them children.
by Ty Tagami | Nov 7, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Airlines flying to and from Atlanta have begun trimming flights in reaction to a federal mandate that stems from the government shutdown.
The order from the Federal Aviation Administration, which applies only to domestic flights, was triggered by “increased reports of strain” among air traffic controllers and the pilots they serve.
Federal workers, including air traffic controllers, have had to work without pay for more than five weeks.
“We are seeing signs of stress in the system, so we are proactively reducing the number of flights to make sure the American people continue to fly safely,” Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford said. “The FAA will continue to closely monitor operations, and we will not hesitate to take further action to make sure air travel remains safe.”
A 4% reduction in operations at 40 of the busiest U.S. airports, including at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, started Friday and will increase gradually to 10% by Tuesday.
Airlines must issue full refunds for cancellations.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is advising customers that they can reschedule for free for travel by Nov. 18 or simply cancel. The carrier said it expected the “vast majority” of flights to operate on time.
United Airlines said it was focused on reducing flights that do not travel between its hubs. It is allowing any customer, even those holding non-refundable and basic economy tickets, to request a refund if they do not want to fly during the flight reductions.
Politicians continued to trade blame for the record-breaking shutdown, which extended to 38 days on Friday.
Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, said he cosponsored bipartisan legislation to pay air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration workers during the shutdown. He also said he voted for another bill to pay some federal employees, but it failed on the Senate floor.
“The American people and our federal workers must not be held hostage by Washington politicians’ games,” Warnock said.
The White House said Friday that the FAA safety restrictions “loom like a guillotine” over the upcoming holidays, adding, “Democrats are inflicting their man-made catastrophe on Americans just trying to make life-saving medical trips or get home for Thanksgiving.”
by Ty Tagami | Nov 6, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Nearly every state in the country gives college students financial aid based on financial need.
Georgia is among the two that do not.
Advocates who want to see that changed contend the policy is harming the economy by reducing the number of college students who earn a degree after suffering academic setbacks, and by driving high school graduates to attend college in other states, forever forsaking Georgia.
Georgia has a lottery-funded scholarship, but HOPE is distributed based on academic performance in high school rather than financial need, and students lose the scholarship if their college grade point average drops too far.
That is what happened to Jordan Winfrey, a Kennesaw State University student who testified at a legislative hearing Thursday about the affordability of higher education.
Winfrey wants to be a nurse, in a state that needs more of them, but she struggled with chemistry. Her grade point average fell, she lost HOPE and now, a junior, she works 30 hours a week to cover the loss.
She has been trying to improve her grades and recover HOPE but has found that difficult while holding a job.
“If I were able to work fewer hours, I’d be able to focus more on my classes and see my grades improve,” said Winfrey, a native Georgian and the first in her family to attend college.
She said all her friends are struggling too, with some dropping out to work.
Taylor Ramsey, executive director of One Goal, which helps students like Winfrey, said fewer than half of high school students qualify for HOPE, and more than 40% who do wind up losing it in college, falling into a downward spiral like Winfrey, “when we pull the rug from under them and take away that financial aid.”
It affects everyone, said Ray Li, a lawyer with Legal Defense Fund, a racial justice group. It drives up student debt, creating a drag on the economy when graduates must pay back loans instead of, say, buying a house. Georgia has one of the highest average college loan debt rates in the country, he said.
And the lack of financial aid for low-income families is driving a “brain drain,” he said, as talented students choose college in other states that will give them “needs-based” financial aid “because it is cheaper to go somewhere else and they’re never returning to the Georgia economy.”
Li said Georgia has the lowest percentage of high school graduates who stay in state for college in this region of the country. He recommended joining the 48 states that offer needs-based aid, by funding it with $126 million in reserves held by the Georgia Lottery. He argued that Georgia would recoup the cost many times over in income taxes paid by graduates.
It is unclear how convincing his recommendation will be for the Georgia General Assembly. Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, attended Thursday’s hearing as a member of the committee studying college affordability. He suggested another course: consider making it easier for students to recover HOPE after their grades drop too far.
“Good students have challenges especially in that first year or that second year,” said Burns, chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee and a former President of Gordon State College in Barnesville.
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican running for governor, authorized the study committee. Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, who leads it, said her panel will write formal recommendations after its next and final hearing Dec. 2.
by Ty Tagami | Nov 5, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The one in eight Georgians who rely on the government for food may have to wait for weeks to get their spending allotment on the cards they use to buy groceries.
In Georgia, deposits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, normally start arriving on the fifth of each month, rolling out on odd dates to recipients through the 23rd.
But on Wednesday, the 36th day of the government shutdown, a new record, one Atlanta shop owner said about a dozen customers had not received their normal allotment.
“People have come in saying that they traditionally get their benefits on the fifth and they didn’t get anything today,” said Jasmine Crowe-Houston, the owner of Goodr Community Market on Edgewood.
Justin King, policy director for Propel, an information service for 5 million SNAP recipients, foresaw this due to the complexity of federal guidance that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sent to states Tuesday. The agency will be giving $5 billion to states to administer SNAP this month. That is about half the normal amount, and it will require states to recalibrate their systems for dividing up the funding for each recipient.
“It’s going to take some time for the states to figure out exactly how to implement the rules that they’ve been given,” King said Tuesday. “They’re not going to start on time.”
King pointed to an official statement in one of the federal lawsuits that compelled the administration of President Donald Trump to issue SNAP benefits during the shutdown. (Officials had said late last month that they would not, prompting two federal lawsuits.)
Judges ordered Trump to send the money, and the administration said it would comply. But in a filing Monday in the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, USDA official Patrick A. Penn said to expect delays.
“For at least some States, USDA’s understanding is that the system changes States must implement to provide the reduced benefit amounts will take anywhere from a few weeks to up to several months,” wrote Penn, the deputy under secretary of USDA’s Food Nutrition and Consumer Services, the agency that handles SNAP.
On Tuesday, not long after USDA issued the guidance to states to pay recipients an average of half their normal allotment, Trump sowed confusion with a social media post.
He seemed to say on Truth Social that the administration would reverse course and disobey the court orders that had been issued Friday, writing that SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government.”
But later on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the president’s post, saying at a news briefing that the administration was, indeed, complying with the court orders.
“But it’s going to take some time,” she said, because the payments must be “prorated” and are coming from a contingency fund.
That could mean hunger for the 1.4 million Georgians — an eighth of the population — who rely on SNAP.
The Georgia Department of Human Services disburses the benefits to recipients through a contractor. On Wednesday afternoon, the agency could not confirm when people will get their deposits.
“We are working with our federal partners for clarification and are also working with our vendor, and will provide updates as soon as any new developments occur,” a spokesperson said.
Food banks will try to fill the breach, but they can only do so much, said Eliza McCall, chief programming officer for Second Harvest of South Georgia.
The Valdosta-based group stockpiled millions of pounds of food to distribute to surrounding communities, but McCall said SNAP feeds nine people for every one normally served by organizations like hers.
“We are committed to helping our neighbors in need, but that’s not a hole that we can fill,” she said, noting that other federal programs that send commodities to food banks have also been disrupted.
by Ty Tagami | Nov 4, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Two Democrats swept the only statewide elections on Tuesday’s ballot, upending total Republican control over the five-member Public Service Commission.
The agency, which regulates utilities and sets consumer rates, is expected to play a central role in planning for future needs of electricity-hungry data centers.
Democrats Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard used that issue coupled with frustration over recent rate increases to topple Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, the two Republican incumbents who were up for election.
The lopsided wins were rare statewide victories for Democrats, who had not seen such success in nearly two decades aside from the two U.S. Senate seats captured by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Charlie Bailey, chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said the outcome indicated Georgians were “sick of Republicans who help corporations and billionaires enrich themselves on the backs of working people,” casting it as a positive sign for the party ahead of next year’s elections.
Republicans still have a 3-2 grip on the PSC, but Democrats will have a seat at the table.
The PSC is considering proposals to expand Georgia Power’s fleet of natural gas turbines to sate demand by anticipated growth of data centers, which Echols had touted as economic drivers.
Hubbard, a solar power advocate, had said the PSC’s trajectory would further increase electricity bills, a claim refuted by the two Republicans. He and Alicia Johnson had called for more sustainable energy and ratepayer protections.
Echols, first elected in 2010, and Fitz Johnson, appointed in 2021, oversaw a half dozen rate increases over the past couple years.
This was the first time Fitz Johnson had to stand for election due to delays caused by a 2022 lawsuit over the election process, which resulted in the postponement of both the 2022 and 2024 PSC elections. Because of that litigation, Echols did not have to run for reelection in 2022 after winning a second term in 2016.
The commissioners normally run for six-year terms within their district of residence, but they stand for election statewide and represent the whole state.
The Democrats, who campaigned on more sustainable energy and ratepayer protections, each took nearly 900,000 votes — well over 300,000 more than each of the Republicans.
Echols, who lost to Alicia Johnson in District 2 in eastern Georgia, embraced data centers as good for the economy, and he supported the expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle, which was completed last year. Fitz Johnson, who lost to Hubbard in metro Atlanta’s District 3, had asserted that new policies by the Republican-led PSC had strengthened the electrical grid and would contain rate increases.
The two Republicans had repeatedly expressed concerns about low turnout among their voters, fearing that this election cycle with many municipal races on the ballot would favor Democrats.
The turnout Tuesday was more than 20 times higher than the GOP primary elections in June.
