Ossoff Defends Medicaid,

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Good morning!  In the news today, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff says he’ll fight Medicaid cuts; Hyundai says demand for EVs dropping amid tariffs; leaders of colleges and universities raise voices; and some things you may have missed. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.

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NEWS: HEALTH

‘Devastating’

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff has vowed to fight cuts to Medicaid, just days before a congressional committee begins weighing drastic cuts to the program that provides nearly-free health care coverage for roughly 80 million poor and disabled Americans, including millions of children. 

Speaking at an open town hall in Marietta on Friday, Ossoff, a Democrat, urged Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to publicly oppose any cuts to Medicaid, The Current’s Jeffrey Woolverton reports from the Cobb County Civic Center.

Noting that Medicaid covers the costs of 1 in 2 of all childbirths in Georgia, the health-care costs for 40% of the state’s children, and the costs of 70% of its seniors who live in nursing homes, 38-year-old senator from Atlanta said the impact of cuts would be “devastating.”

Ossoff’s vow to protect Medicaid came just days before the House Energy and Commerce Committee begins this week crafting legislation that could slash billions from the program.

Coastal Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter, who has expressed his interest in running against Ossoff in next year’s elections, is a member of the committee. Only waste, fraud, and abuse are on the chopping block, Carter has said.

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NEWS: JOBS

Earnings lag at Hyundai

Hyundai Motor, the operator of Gov. Brian Kemp’s multibillion-dollar showcase electric-vehicle plant in Bryan County, last week announced a drop in first quarter demand for the vehicles.

While the U.S. market remained a bright spot for South Korea’s largest automaker, President Donald Trump’s 25% levy on foreign-made vehicles shipped to the U.S., effective since early April, and other import duties are darkening the company’s business outlook, The Wall Street Journal reported, quoting Hyundai’s first quarter earnings report and financial analysts.

A tariff on auto parts is set to kick in soon, the Journal said.

During his first term in office, Trump praised electric vehicles. As he campaigned for a second term, however, he called the Biden administration’s support for electric vehicles a “Marxist hoax” that hurt U.S. automakers and said that promoting electric vehicles “was the idea of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, & Communists” and that “Within 3 years, all of these cars will be made in China.”

Since taking office, Trump has frozen billions of dollars of spending on electric vehicle infrastructure, ripping out charging stations in government buildings, and reversing regulations that incentivize automakers to focus on plug-in innovation.

The administration says its policies will help U.S. automakers, who will continue to focus on the gas cars that still generate most of their profits. That almost guarantees the U.S. — and Hyundai — will fall behind in the global EV race to the benefit of China, which now dominates the world market by producing cheaper and more advance vehicles.

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NEWS: HIGHER EDUCATION

‘Overreach’

More than 500 university and college presidents have signed a letter condemning the Trump administration’s recent efforts to dictate the policies of private higher education institutions in exchange for federal funding.

“As leaders of America’s colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter, orchestrated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, says.

“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” the letter continues. “However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”

Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, said in an email to NBC News that the administration is “standing up for equality and fairness and will not be swayed by worthless letters by overpaid blowhards.”

As of 2 p.m. Monday, 534 “current leaders of colleges, universities, and scholarly societies” had signed on to the letter. Only one — Leocadia I. Zak, president of Decatur’s Agnes Scott College — was from Georgia.

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NEWS: THINGS TO WATCH

ICYMI

• U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter says he supports “The Save Our Shrimpers Act.”
• A source close to Marjorie Taylor Greene says the U.S. representative from Rome believes she would “crush” the GOP primary contest for U.S. Senate next spring if Gov. Brian Kemp decides not to run.
• Though Charlie Bailey may be the “candidate to beat” in next week’s vote to choose the chair of the state Democratic Party, former Chatham County Commissioner Jay Jones, currently the party’s 1^st District Committee chair, shouldn’t “be counted out,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
• In an unsigned editorial entitled, “U.S. Sens. Ossoff and Warnock Deserve Criticism,” The Brunswick News says, “Both senators went against the state and nation when they sided with the liberal party to allow men who undergo sex change operations to compete on all-female teams, even when opponents object.”
• Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE has ordered AmeriCorps to terminate close to $400 million in grants. The group deploys thousands of young people to work on community service projects across the U.S. Its 2025 operating budget is about $1 billion.
• The Trump administration is considering exempting Afghan Christians from deportation.
• Events at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center celebration of LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival have been canceled.

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