Eyes on Change Orders

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Good morning! Today we start with Donald Trump’s first whirlwind week back in the White House and what it might mean for Coastal Georgians. We then look at what Coastal Georgia’s Congressman Buddy Carter is doing at the start of this week. Finally, we note an effort to curb your power bill and three things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com

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NEWS: GOVERNING

Whirlwind week

It remains to be seen whether Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president marks, as he proclaimed last week, the start of a “golden age for America” and “a revolution of common sense.”

But to the delight of a majority of Coastal Georgian voters who cast their ballots for Trump in November, the torrent of executive orders, directives and declarations that followed his swearing in left no question about his determination to “drain the swamp” (a Ronald Reagan phrase), root out the “deep state,” and excise what he described as “all of the cancer . . . caused by the Biden administration.”

Whether Trump’s initiatives pertained to the environment, health care, or education, following are a few of the things that caught our eye in his first whirlwind week that could have an impact in our region, The Current’s Craig Nelson writes.

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NEWS: GOVERNING

Budget cuts

Coastal Georgia’s congressman, Earl “Buddy” Carter, was set on Monday to be part of the throng of House Republicans converging in south Florida at for what is billed as a three-day “policy retreat.” They’re gathering (where else?) at the Trump National Doral Miami for what is billed as a 48-hour “policy retreat.”

On the agenda is what cuts in Medicaid, food stamps and other social safety-net programs will have to be made to offset the extension of the tax cuts they first approved during Donald Trump’s first term.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Carter sits on, is weighing up to $2 trillion of cuts, including per capita caps for Medicaid — which would put a limit on federal dollars sent to states — along with Medicaid work requirements and pharmacy benefit manager reforms.

The House Budget Committee, which Carter also sits on, has also drawn up a list of proposed spending cuts.

It includes possible repeal of a rule that imposes minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities, which the authors say would save up to $10 billion “in 10-year savings, as well as the elimination of funds for a program aimed at improving the nation’s public-health system, for $15 billion in 10-year savings.

You can find the memo spelling these and other possible budget cuts here.

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NEWS: ENVIRONMENT

Who pays?

The Georgia Public Service Commission last week approved a measure that aims to prevent households from subsidizing the electrical needs of the state’s sprawling data centers.

Data centers are energy guzzlers, and nationwide there are concerns that households will increasingly bear the costs of their voracious energy needs. Georgia is home to more than 50 major data centers for top global firms, including Google, Facebook and AT&T, the Georgia Department of Economic Development says.

In a vote on Thursday, the commission agreed to allow Georgia Power to charge new data centers “in a manner that will protect consumers from cost shifting,” the commission said in a statement.

“The amount of energy these new industries consume is staggering,” PSC Chairman Jason Shaw said. “By approving this new rule, the PSC is helping ensure that existing Georgia Power customers will be spared additional costs associated with adding these large-load customers to the grid.

In its statement, the PSC didn’t indicate the extent to which household customers have subsidized existing data centers or what, if any, center-related costs will be borne by them in the future.

Earlier this month, House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) announced the creation of special committee to study issues related to both energy and water management in the state.

Last year, the state legislature passed a bill that called for revoking for two years state tax incentives available to the largest server farms that choose to build in Georgia. But Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed the measure.

The PSC, a state regulatory agency, has been under increasing scrutiny in recent years. Since late 2022, its five-member elected board, all Republican, have approved a series of rate increases that have pushed the average Georgia Power customer’s bill up by about $43, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month, citing company data.

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NEWS: UPDATES

3 things for your radar

• Savannah officials announced last week that it will hold three hearings next month over the city government’s plans to opt out of a law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp last year, that created a statewide homestead tax exemption. It says the current exemption affords greater protections and lower taxes.” For more information, click here.
• The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Diocese of Washington, says she’ll continue to pray for Donald Trump.
• Two Coastal Georgians will be playing in the Super Bowl in New Orleans, both for the Philadelphia Eagles: Cornerback Darius Slay, a Brunswick native and graduate of Brunswick High School, and linebacker Nolan Smith, who was born in Savannah and attended Calvary Day.  

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