WEEKLY REVEREND WRAP: Reverend Warnock Works To Lower Housing Costs, Help Homebuyers

Also This Week: Reverend Warnock Continues Statewide “Working for Georgia” Bus Tour

This week, Reverend Warnock continued fighting to lower costs for hardworking Georgia families and unveiled new legislation to lower housing costs and help homebuyers. 

Also this week, Reverend Warnock’s statewide “Working for Georgia” bus tour continued as he met with Georgians in Savannah.  

Read about this and more below. 

REVEREND WARNOCK INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO LOWER HOUSING COSTS 

This week, Reverend Warnock announced new legislation to lower housing costs and help Georgians buy a home. The announcement is part of Reverend Warnock’s ongoing efforts to lower costs for hardworking families and improve housing, which includes introducing legislation last month to expand access to quality, affordable housing for Georgia’s servicemembers and their families. Reverend Warnock sits on the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Development Committee. 

Georgia Public Broadcasting: ‘Georgians need relief now’: Warnock announces housing legislation near hometown of Savannah

• Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock announced Wednesday a package of new legislation aimed at addressing the nation’s housing crisis.

• Speaking in front of a new house built by Habitat for Humanity in Garden City, just outside his hometown of Savannah, Warnock laid out three bills that he introduced in the Senate earlier this month.

• “I’m here today because the federal government has a role to play in addressing this issue,” Warnock said. “It won’t come as a surprise to anybody here today that it is harder than ever for Georgians to cover their housing costs.”

• Warnock’s first bill would give a tax cut to renters who spend more than 30% of their income on rent. For people looking to buy a home, the second bill would allow them to open a special tax-free savings account meant for a down payment. A third bill would increase data transparency within the affordable housing market.

• Warnock called housing “a human right,” and said that the issue is personal to him, having grown up in public housing in nearby Savannah.

• “I work on this now as a legislator, but I’ve seen this on the front lines, first as a pastor and as someone who grew up in public housing in the Kayton Homes housing projects not far from here,” Warnock said. “I think about the elderly citizens in this community. I also think about our children. And they need the security of a safe place to lay their heads so that they can dream, as I did growing up as a young kid in this community.”

Watch Fox 28 Savannah’s Coverage HERE

Destiny Wiggins, Fox 28: “Visiting his hometown in Chatham County, Senator Raphael Warnock says now is the time to address the housing issue in Georgia. He’s announced  new housing legislation that he says will address the needs of the housing issue for working families in this state.” 

Reverend Warnock: “We’ve got far too many Georgia families who are paying half of their income on rent. And so, people who are at the lower levels of federal poverty, who are extremely poor, they are the ones who were hit the hardest by this.”

Savannah Morning News: Savannah rent prices are sky high. In visit to Garden City, Warnock champions Senate bill

• Sen. Raphael Warnock visited Garden City on a humid Wednesday morning to unveil new housing legislation he plans to introduce to the U.S. Senate. Speaking at the site of a newly dedicated Habitat for Humanity home in the historical Rossignol Hill neighborhood, the senator explained the bill’s three-pronged approach to alleviating housing insecurity across the U.S. in the midst of rising rents and a worsening housing crunch. 

• “I think we’ll have an important impact on folks who are struggling,” said Warnock, “In fact, we’ve got far too many Georgian families who are paying half of their income on rent.” 

• “I’ve seen first-hand how difficult it is for hardworking people to afford a home,” said Warnock, who grew up in a West Savannah federal public housing complex known as Kayton Homes. “I’ve seen it as a pastor. I’ve lived it. I remember, even as a child, hearing my parents think through how they might be able to afford a home … so that’s the lens through which I do this work.”

• The senator, who is a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said he plans to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to build support for this legislation. 

• Warnock acknowledged that there are larger, structural issues within the housing system that need to be addressed but “people need relief right now.” 

• Earlier this month, Warnock introduced legislation that tackles housing challenges specifically for American troops through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In May, Warnock along with Sen. Jon Ossoff secured $170 million in federal housing investments for the state of Georgia. About $3.3 million of those funds have been allocated to Savannah. 

Watch WTOC Savannah’s Coverage HERE

Camille Syed, WTOC: “Senator Warnock says he’s working on a rent relief bill for you and he’s working on several housing relief bills as well.”

Reverend Warnock: “This will provide tax credits for folks who are just trying to pay rent so they can go to work, so their lives can be stable, their children can do their homework. The other piece of legislation helps people to reach the American dream, to buy a home.”

“WORKING FOR GEORGIA” BUS TOUR CONTINUES

This week, Reverend Warnock’s “Working for Georgia” bus tour continued, after he kicked off the tour last week, making stops throughout Georgia. Saturday, veterans, military families, and community leaders showed their support for Reverend Warnock at a Veterans for Warnock rally in McDonough. Sunday, Screven County voters celebrated Warnock’s work fighting to support Georgia’s agriculture workers. On Wednesday, Reverend Warnock spoke to members of the Savannah faith community.

On Saturday, the “Working for Georgia” bus tour celebrated veterans with a surrogate visit to McDonough:

In McDonough, Georgia voters and community leaders thanked Reverend Warnock for his support for veterans, servicemembers and their families.

Master Sergeant Patricia Baisden, U.S. Army (Retired): “The PACT Act is going to allow me the opportunity to go back to the VA and say look, I served in Kabul, Afghanistan. I gave you my time…I was there next to your toxic exposure burn pits, but when you took out my thyroid, you didn’t compensate me…There’s millions of vets … coming back but they ain’t receiving any justice, and I think if we re-elect Senator Warnock we might have that fighting chance to continue on fighting to get to where we need to be.”

Douglas Cloud, First Vice President of American Legion Post 516: “I was drafted into the United States Army in 1969, drafted. That means I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t run from it, I went, I served, got out honorably. I want to thank Senator Warnock for what he is doing for veterans. There should not be one veteran in this country who is struggling for housing. There should not be one veteran in this country who is struggling for medical care. There should not be one veteran that is struggling for anything.”

On Sunday, during an agriculture-focused swing, the “Working for Georgia” bus tour visited Screven County: 

Team Warnock rallied with voters and discussed Reverend Warnock’s wins for Georgia’s agriculture workers.

On Wednesday, Reverend Warnock traveled to Savannah for a Women of Faith roundtable:

Reverend Warnock discussed his work for Georgians during a Women of Faith roundtable in Savannah.

REVEREND WARNOCK SUCCESSFULLY PUSHES WHITE HOUSE TO TAKE ACTION ON STUDENT DEBT RELIEF 

Following Reverend Warnock’s extensive advocacy, the White House announced student debt relief for Georgians this week – a move that will boost Georgia’s economy and allow Georgians to start a small business, buy their first home, and have their shot at the American dream. 

Watch WALB Albany’s Coverage HERE

Reverend Warnock: “During the Christmas holidays, I was on a flight from DC back home, and there was a young couple in front of me. They had a son who looked like he was about a year old, and they waited for me as I was leaving the plane. And the mom wrote a note for me, which I keep in my possession, and she said ‘We’re your supporters. Please do something about student debt relief.’” 

REVEREND WARNOCK FIGHTS TO LOWER PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

This week Reverend Warnock continued his work fighting to lower prescription drug costs. Warnock recently led the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act – legislation that  includes Warnock’s proposals to lower prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare and cap the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Georgians on Medicare – which was recently signed into law. 

Associated Press: Insulin cap for Medicare patients signals hope for others

• Years before he came to the Senate, Raphael Warnock spent time bedside with Georgia residents suffering from the long-term effects of diabetes, a condition made worse by limited access to life-saving drugs like insulin.

• “I’ve seen the human face of this up close as a pastor. I’ve been there and witnessed what happens when diabetes goes on untreated,” Warnock said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’ve been there with families when they received the news that a loved one will have to receive an amputation.”

• That work as a pastor helped the freshman senator push Congress to take its first step in limiting the high cost of insulin for millions of Americans.

• As a result, by 2026, Medicare will gain the power to start negotiating costs for pharmaceuticals and its beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket prescription costs will be limited to $2,000 starting in 2025.
  
• But the most immediate relief will take effect in January when the cost of insulin for patients on Medicare will be capped at $35 a month.

• The provision, a longstanding priority for Democrats, will bring relief to an estimated nearly 2 million people across the country who currently pay an average of $572 annually out-of-pocket for insulin, according to a recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
  
• In Warnock’s state, the annual average is higher, coming in at $591 for more than 50,000 Georgia residents whose lives are dependent on the drug.

• Around 7 million Americans require insulin daily and 14% of them are spending nearly half of their income after food and housing costs on the medicine, according to a Yale University study.

• The issue of insulin pricing is more pronounced in the U.S. than in other nations, and it has gotten worse over the past two decades. According to a 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, between 2002 and 2013, the price of insulin tripled. And between 2012 and 2016, prices continued to climb, nearly doubling, a congressional report released in March found.

• While several states passed legislation that capped the price for Medicare and private insurance, the new federal law doesn’t go as far. The legislation introduced by Warnock had initially included the monthly cap both for Medicare recipients and those privately insured.

• But during an hours long voting series, Republicans stripped out the portion that would have included private insurance, which is used by the majority of those in need of insulin. Some of the GOP senators who voted for it to be removed represent states with some of the highest mortality rates for diabetes, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• But Warnock said the quarrel over procedural rules meant failing on substance.

• “The blocking of a provision that would have provided the same cap for folks on private insurance is yet another example of why people hate politics and, and what’s wrong with Washington,” he said.

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