Senator Reverend Warnock to Georgia Chamber: "I'll be working day and night, as I've been all year long, to foster a business climate that allows the economy to work for all Georgians"

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's annual "Eggs and Issues" breakfast to speak with business owners, community leaders, and local and state elected officialsand provide an update on his work in the United State Senate to create jobs, support Georgia's small businesses, strengthen Georgia's workforce and keep the state economically competitive.

Senator Warnock emphasized numerous legislative accomplishments that have made a tremendous impact on Georgia's families, businesses, and economy, including delivering a tax cut to working families, lifting children from poverty, making investments to clear port congestion and benefit the supply chain, securing funding to expand broadband, investing in zero to low emissions buses, technological innovation and American-made products, and more. Senator Warnock also implored the business community not to steer clear from the fight for voting rights, arguing that the implications of voting restrictions bring harm to Georgia's businesses, and reminded them of the moral importance of protecting the sacred right to vote.

Key Excerpts from Senator Reverend Warnock's speech below:

"I was proud to help pass robust federal relief last spring that has helped hundreds and thousands of Georgians get vaccinated, providing a lifeline for small businesses and giving Georgia schools and communities the resources they need to stay open and to help keep all of us safe. I'm also really proud of the tax cut for working families we secured that benefited of over 2 million children all across the state of Georgia."

"Additionally, our state is starting to see the beginnings of billions of dollars in federal funding I fought that is not only going to fix our roads and our bridges to facilitate transportation and commerce, but also improve our transit, our airports, our ports and waterways in a multimodal state to strengthen our freedom railway systems and expand broadband in underserved areas to help small businesses and farmers and job seekers and more. There are swaths of the state where there's little to no connection to broadband. Internet connection is in the 21st century what electricity was the 20th century. We need to make sure that everybody is connected. It's good for business. It's good for children who are trying to study. It's good for all of us. These are investments that can keep lots of important projects moving forward, including many involving the companies represented in this room and create new jobs, economic opportunities from Calhoun, to Cornelia, to coastal Georgia."

"When global supply chain disruptions threatened to derail Georgia's holiday shopping season, I stepped in to listen to Georgians on the ground and to make sure Washington knew what Georgians were going through. Then, I helped to loosen up $8 million in federal funding for the Georgia Ports Authority to help ease congestion issues at the Port of Savannah. Since then, the number of vessels anchored outside the borders of them has fallen to zero. This is a significant improvement-- from September when the number was as high as 30."

"As the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church--where Martin Luther King Jr. preached--and as Congressman John Lewis' pastor, I believe deeply in protecting the right to vote. I know that I'm speaking to the business community, I know I am speaking to the Chamber of Commerce and it is the nature of business that you would rather steer clear as much as you can in some of these issues that caused you to wade in the waters of politics. I submit this to you: Voting rights is above politics. It is about the covenant we have with one another as an American people. It is about the pathway that gives everyone a voice. Your vote is your voice and your voice is your human dignity. I submit that the right to vote and ensuring access to the ballot for every eligible voters-- workers working in the middle of the night, rural folks--this helps lay a pathway to the policies that impact each and every one of your businesses, employees, and your customers."

"As a kid who grew up in Savannah, Georgia in public housing, the 11th of 12 children, first college graduate in my family, who now serves in the United States Senate-- it is the honor of my life to represent you in the United States Senate. I'm going to fight every day to make sure the kids growing up in communities like the one I grew up in or rural communities have access to the American Dream because nowhere else--nowhere else on the planet is my story even possible."

Read full transcript of Senator Reverend Warnock's remarks here:

"Thank you so very much, Neil (Pruitt, Chairman & CEO of PruittHealth) for that kind introduction. Well hello, Georgia. Listen, you got a Baptist preacher up here. If you've ever attended a Baptist church we are used to talk folks talking back and forth to us--Hello, Georgia. It's an honor to be here at my first Eggs and Issues Breakfast as senator of our great state. I want to recognize all of our distinguished state and local elected officials who are here today. Thank you for your service. It's great to be here in the fabulous Fox Theater. Let's see hear it for the staff and the leadership of the Fox Theater. I especially want to thank my friends at the Georgia Chamber for inviting me to share a quick update on some of my work for our state in Washington DC and for being a partner with me during my first year in office. What a year it has been. And I am not just talking about championships-- let's hear it for the Georgia Bulldogs-- let's hear it for the Bulldogs How "bout them Dawgs? And for the Atlanta Braves!

"Like the Atlanta Braves and the Georgia Bulldogs, we have proven that Georgia is a place for champions--through the challenges of the pandemic, Georgians have persevered… We've come out stronger on the other side.

"We embody the words of Scripture "Power made perfect in weakness." We worked together to keep our businesses and our communities and our schools open. And I was proud to help pass robust federal relief last spring that has helped hundreds and thousands of Georgians get vaccinated, providing a lifeline for small businesses and giving Georgia schools and communities the resources they need to stay open and to help keep all of us safe. I'm also really proud of the tax cut for working families we secured that benefited of over 2 million children all across the state of Georgia.

"Additionally, our state is starting to see the beginnings of billions of dollars in federal funding I fought that is not only going to fix our roads and our bridges to facilitate transportation and commerce, but also improve our transit, our airports, our ports and waterways in a multimodal state to strengthen our freedom railway systems and expand broadband in underserved areas to help small businesses and farmers and job seekers and more. There are swaths of the state where there's little to no connection to broadband. Internet connection is in the 21st century what electricity was the 20th century. We need to make sure that everybody is connected. It's good for business. It's good for children who are trying to study. It's good for all of us.

"These are investments that can keep lots of important projects moving forward, including many involving the companies represented in this room and create new jobs, economic opportunities from Calhoun, to Cornelia, to coastal Georgia.

"See Georgia is always on my mind. I was born in the state, educated in this state, and it is the honor of my life to represent my state-- represent every part of our state, including the business community. As a voice of our state of the United States Senate, and as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, the Banking Committee and the Commerce Committee, know that you will always have an advocate to fight for you in every room on Capitol Hill. I'll be working day and night as I've been all year long to foster a business climate that allows the economy to work for all Georgians. I am deeply committed to making sure that Washington is doing all they can to help keep Georgia's economy strong and support small businesses that help give life to all of our communities.

"That's why when global supply chain disruptions threatened to derail Georgia's holiday shopping season I stepped in to listen to Georgians on the ground and to make sure Washington knew what Georgians were going through. Then, I helped to loosen up $8 million in federal funding for the Georgia Ports Authority to help ease congestion issues at the Port of Savannah. Since then, the number of vessels anchored outside the borders of them has fallen to zero. This is a significant improvement-- from September when the number was as high as 30.

"Georgians stood up all over this state sending me to the United States Senate gave my party the majority, regardless of your party, know that I tried to utilize that leverage to bring back good resources for Georgia.

"As chair of those various committees I named, agriculture, banking, commerce, and when I say "I need this for Georgia…I need that for Georgia" and they look at me and say "I am not sure we can do that" and I look at that gavel in their hands and remind them Georgians put those gavels in their hands.

"And it works. You're looking at the most junior member of the United States Senate, but I punch way above my weight and you gave me that power so thank you so very much, Georgia!

"I'll continue to work and champion funding in Washington to increase federal funding for research and development at Georgia's colleagues and universities, including our HBCUs, to help create new jobs and bring new technology and innovations to market.

"That is why I'm pushing for strong investments and policies to prevent semiconductor shortages and make more of them here at home in the United States, which will support Georgia growing tech and electric vehicle industry. There's no reason why we should be waiting on semiconductors in the United States to come from some other country. So we stood up, that is why we secured by $5 billion in infrastructure investments to strengthen the work spearheaded by Fort Valley's Blue Bird Bus Corporation to green our yellow school buses.

"This past year, I've also had the great honor of traveling across our state to meet with Georgians and hearing their stories. In addition to working to create jobs and economic opportunity across our state--something I am focused on every single day--one of the other things I hear about consistently is the need to protect our sacred right to vote from the current assault we're seeing on access to the ballot across the nation.

"I know some say, "well everyone has the right to vote" well not only is that true, that has been true for a long time, the 15th Amendment gave us the right to vote, that right doesn't mean anything if access is the issue.

"As the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church--where Martin Luther King Jr. preached--and as Congressman John Lewis' pastor, I believe deeply in protecting the right to vote.

"I know that I'm speaking to the business community, I know I am speaking to the Chamber of Commerce and it is the nature of business that you would rather steer clear as much as you can in some of these issues that caused you to wade in the waters of politics. I submit this to you: Voting rights is above politics. It is about the covenant we have with one another as an American people. It is about the pathway that gives everyone a voice. Your vote is your voice and your voice is your human dignity. I submit that the right to vote and ensuring access to the ballot for every eligible voters-- workers working in the middle of the night, rural folks--this helps lay a pathway to the policies that impact each and every one of your businesses, employees, and your customers.

"Restricting access to the ballot is not good for Georgia and it's certainly not good for Georgia business. It's not good for Georgians in Lincoln County who are fighting to prevent all but one polling location from being closed, and it's not good for Georgians in Fulton County where groundwork is already being laid to take over the local board of elections. And it's not good for the Georgians statewide who would be impacted if the state eliminates all ballot drop boxes in the middle of a pandemic--a proposal being championed in the legislature this session.

"When SB (Senate Bill) 202 was being discussed, I received calls from leaders of businesses. Many of them called and they asked me, "What should we do? Should we bring our businesses to Georgia?", I was unequivocal in my response "Absolutely." Bring your business to Georgia. Georgia is open for business. Be on the ground here with us, fight the good fight, while continuing to do business with us. Some of them listen to me. Some of them did not. And I walked away the conclusion, that voter suppression is not a good for business. Opening up access is the right thing to do it's also a smart thing to do.

"So on this issue, all of us have a moral responsibility to speak out. This issue is above politics. In fact, I believe that democracy is a political enactment of a spiritual idea. That all of us have within us a spark of the Divine. Therefore, we ought to have a voice in the direction of our country and our destiny within it. In fact, I believe that a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children and our prayers are stronger when we pray together.

"That's why I'm headed back to Washington shortly to argue and to secure the vote for every eligible Georgia and every eligible American no matter where they live or who they support, regardless of party, all of us deserve a vote and a voice in our democracy.

"We can do this and fight for economic opportunity. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can work on infrastructure and the infrastructure of our democracy at the same time.

"As I close, and no one believes a Baptist preacher when they say they are closing, let me reiterate -- as a kid who grew up in Savannah, Georgia in public housing, the 11th of 12 children, first college graduate in my family, who now serves in the United States Senate-- it is the honor of my life to represent you in the United States Senate. I'm going to fight every day to make sure the kids growing up in communities like the one I grew up in or rural communities have access to the American Dream because nowhere else--nowhere else on the planet is my story even possible.

"Thank you so very much we will get into the darkness of this pandemic, it is dark, but the Scripture tells us that "the light shines in the darkness, the darkness overcometh did not". Keep the faith and keep looking up!"

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