Today’s newsletter highlights:
- President Donald Trump’s Fulton County mugshot is displayed near the Oval Office.
- State budget could include funds to help relocate Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic cauldron.
- Lawmakers want Congress to help clarify Georgia’s boundary.
The Trump administration’s plans to slash about 10% of the workforce of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drew condemnation from Democrats and health experts while forcing Republicans onto the defensive.
Pressed on the cuts of about 1,300 CDC employees during his weekend trip to the Munich Security Conference, Gov. Brian Kemp told Politico that the federal government can learn from Georgia’s example.
“I know they have some layoffs at the CDC and other things, but government can stand a little rightsizing,” he said, adding that GOP governors in Georgia over the years have pushed to limit the growth of the state government workforce.
Credit: Matthew Pearson/WABE via AP
Credit: Matthew Pearson/WABE via AP
“But we are doing more work because we got more efficient with technology. We are paying our people more. So instead of hiring people at the same pay rate, we are paying people more, keeping the same numbers but doing more work because we are using technology. Why can’t the federal government do that?”
The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency initiative has run rampant through every corner of Washington as it pushes to reduce the size of the federal government. The layoffs at the CDC are part of broader cuts targeting a range of agencies.
Critics worry that the CDC cuts could hamstring public health response, particularly with other potential threats looming.
“CDC staff are heroes, even though they aren’t being treated like it right now,” said state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta. “We are all at risk if the CDC is gutted. Why are the leaders of this state silent while Elon Musk makes Georgians less safe?”
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
GOOD MORNING! It’s Presidents Day. The federal government and most states — but not Georgia — designate the third Monday in February as a holiday. Georgia usually celebrates “Washington’s birthday” in December to give state workers an extra day off around Christmas. This year, the state holiday is scheduled for Dec. 26.
While state offices are open today, the Legislature is off. But you can probably still find a good deal on a mattress somewhere.
Here are three things to know for today:
- Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is Georgia’s first Jewish senator. But his recent vote on Israel has angered Democratic donors and Jewish leaders so much that they have urged Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to run against him in 2026, The New York Times reports. “It is a different level of betrayal that Ossoff has committed,” state Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, told the paper.
- The passage of time, and a Trump victory, have brought U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene into the new GOP mainstream ― so much that a run for Senate or governor doesn’t seem so far-fetched, AJC political columnist Patricia Murphy writes.
- Five years after the coronavirus pandemic began and prompted criticism about scientifically sound vaccines, some conservative lawmakers are inching back toward publicly supporting measures addressing community health, writes the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman.
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Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
Credit: Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times
MUG SHOW. There’s a touch of Georgia at the White House.
President Donald Trump has displayed a framed copy of the New York Post edition that featured his mug shot from his August 2023 arrest in Fulton County on election interference charges.
The picture hangs just outside the Oval Office, surely marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has showcased his own mug shot in the official residence. Meanwhile, the Fulton County case against Trump and his allies remains in limbo.
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TIME TO ESCALATE. Georgia has long complained that its borders with Tennessee and North Carolina are wrong. But so far, leaders of the other two states haven’t shown interest in talking about it.
Now, some Georgia lawmakers want to take the fight to Congress.
House Resolution 132 would establish a nine-member commission to work with Congress “and any other interested party to establish, survey, and proclaim the true boundary lines.”
There’s more at stake than just state pride. Shifting the boundary would give Georgia access to the Tennessee River, a vital source of water that would be key to economic development efforts.
The Georgia Legislature passed a resolution in 2019 aiming to create an interstate compact with Tennessee and North Carolina. But Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed it after the two states showed no interest in participating.
“There is no incentive for them to lose their access to Georgia’s entitled resources,” said state Rep. Martin Momtahan, a Republican from Dallas and the author of the resolution. “We need to kind of elevate this and escalate it.”
The dispute stems from an 1818 survey that Georgia leaders say put the boundary about a mile south of where it should be.
The commission would include nine members: three each appointed by lieutenant governor and House speaker, and three appointed by the governor, including the chair. The commission would be allowed to hire consultants, with approval from legislative leaders.
Kemp’s office declined to comment on the resolution.
***
Credit: Andy Clark/Reuters
Credit: Andy Clark/Reuters
OLYMPIC RELOCATION. The Olympic cauldron lit by Muhammad Ali to begin the 1996 summer games in Atlanta is likely getting a new home, thanks to some help from Georgia taxpayers.
Gov. Brian Kemp and the state House of Representatives have backed an $833,000 request from the Georgia World Congress Center Authority to cover about a third of the cost to move the cauldron from the Georgia State University campus to Centennial Olympic Park.
The state Senate is still reviewing the request, but members appeared receptive during a public hearing last week.
The cauldron sits down the street from what was once Centennial Olympic Stadium, where sprinter Michael Johnson famously wore golden shoes while while winning two gold medals.
But the stadium bears little resemblance to its former Olympic glory. It was remodeled shortly after the games into Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves. Now, it’s known as Center Parc Stadium and is the home of the Georgia State University football team.
Billy Payne, who was president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, supports the move. It was Payne who first suggested it to the Georgia World Congress Authority. It’ll cost about $2.5 million to relocate it. The authority has asked Payne to help raise money to cover the rest of the cost.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
COLLINS ON THE CORPS. These are uneasy times for federal agencies, with the Trump administration zeroing in on inefficient practices, both real and perceived. But it’s another Republican elected official, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson, who is taking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to task.
Collins will visit the Georgia coast today to learn more about concerns over the Brunswick River shipping channel. The 15-mile-long harbor hasn’t undergone a major dredging since 2007 and has become narrower and shallower over the years.
Collins, chair of a House subcommittee focused on waterways, spoke to our AJC colleague Adam Van Brimmer for a deep-dive story on the issue that published Friday. The congressman didn’t hold back his skepticism of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, questioning the laborious and time-consuming process around the agency’s infrastructure work, saying “they’ve let it get away from them.”
He added that he often hears complaints about that agency and two others frequently involved in waterway matters: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“You hear so many times when folks come here to Washington, the first thing they pop on is the Army Corps, NOAA and the fisheries service,” Collins said. “I wouldn’t want to be on that list.”
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VA CUTS. No federal agency, it seems, is immune to the budget-slashing actions of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency initiative. Last week, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it had fired more than 1,000 employees from its ranks.
The firings came just a week after VA Secretary Doug Collins, a former Georgia congressman, was sworn into office. Just after his swearing in, we asked him about potential layoffs from DOGE, including the effects of President Donald Trump’s initial federal hiring freeze.
“No veteran is not getting care because of that hiring freeze. We made sure of it,” he said. But he added, “There is no department up here that can’t be better efficient.”
***
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes joins the show to discuss the politics of immigration. Then, two descendants of former Presidents Harry Truman and Grover Cleveland talk about the history of Presidents Day.
Be sure to download the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EST on 90.1 FM WABE.
On Friday’s show, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan gave his assessment of the Trump administration.
***
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Credit: Hyosub Shin
BLUE DOGS. The U.S. House Blue Dogs Coalition celebrated its 30th anniversary on Friday, marking three decades since the caucus of conservative Democrats was formed.
In an opinion column penned by the current leaders of the Blue Dogs, they tout the group’s focus on fiscal stability and national security as a relevant conversation.
“The need for pragmatic policy and commonsense action has rarely been as pronounced as it is today,” they wrote. “Across our nation, hardworking families are demanding effective representation that addresses our skyrocketing deficit, plummeting confidence in government, and national security as tensions flare abroad.”
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, is the longest-serving member of the Blue Dogs. The group is smaller than it has been in recent years as politics in Washington has become more partisan. Fewer members are interested in branding themselves as moderates.
Currently, there are only 10 Blue Dogs among 215 House Democrats. When the group was formed on Valentine’s Day 1995, it had 23 members.
U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, was once a Blue Dog, but he left the group in 2023 during a period of internal disagreement over its future.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Donald Trump is spending the federal holiday at his home in Florida.
- The U.S. House and Senate are out.
***
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
PRESIDENTS DAY PROTEST. Progressive groups have chosen today’s federal holiday to protest President Donald Trump and his allies, including Elon Musk, and the policies the administration have implemented since taking office last month.
The coalition calls itself the 50501 movement, which references its initial goal of 50 protests in 50 states on one day earlier this month. The group later designated Presidents Day as a “national day of action.”
“We are reclaiming President’s Day — a day that is supposed to be celebrating the Presidency,” the group said on social media. “Unite to limit executive overreach.”
In Atlanta, a protest is planned for Liberty Plaza next to the state Capitol. Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, the African Methodist Episcopal Church leader who recently relocated from Georgia to Washington, will participate alongside other civil rights and faith leaders.
***
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthday:
- U.S. Rep. Brian Jack, R-Peachtree City.
Belated birthdays:
- Former Democratic Gov. Joe Frank Harris (was Sunday).
- State Rep. El-Mahdi Holly, D-Stockbridge (was Sunday).
- State Rep. Sheila Jones, D-Atlanta (was Sunday).
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. (was Sunday).
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
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