{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warnock-visits-rural-hospital-facing-steep-cuts-due-to-gop-tax-bill/", "Warnock Visits Rural Hospital Facing Steep Cuts Due to GOP Tax Bill", "2025-08-18", "2025", "2025-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Senator Reverend Warnock visited Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, Georgia\n\nThe hospital is forced to cut $3.3 million annually to break even because of the GOP tax bill, which will kick 750,000 Georgians off their health care\n\nIn 2022, Senator Warnock secured $1 million for Evans Memorial to secure a new roof after leaks threatened medical equipment, patient safety\n\nSenator Warnock tours Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, Georgia\n\nAdditional photos available HERE\n\nClaxton, GA \u2013 Today, Senator Reverend Warnock visited Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, Georgia to discuss the risks to rural health care access following steep cuts to Medicaid in the recently passed GOP tax law. Evans Memorial Hospital, a lifeline for rural Georgians, is forced to cut $3.3 million annually to break even due to the GOP tax bill, which will kick 750,000 Georgians off their health care. When rural hospitals have to provide care to people without insurance who cannot afford their medical bills, it makes it more likely that hospitals will be forced to cut services or close their doors. The GOP tax bill\u2019s health care cuts could mean Evans Memorial will have to scale back intensive care unit (ICU) or cardio-pulmonary rehab services. Recently, Evans Memorial Hospital had to shutter its labor and delivery unit because it was no longer financially viable.\n\n\u201cThis is a matter of life and death, and in spite of the heroic work that people in this building are doing every single day, it increases the likelihood that this hospital, or hospitals like it, will close, or they don\u2019t close, and they will have to cut critical services,\u201d said Senator Reverend Warnock. \u201cAnd the question you have to ask yourself is, why are they doing this? Who does this pain serve? And the answer is [that] it\u2019s all being done to give billionaires a tax cut. So we\u2019re cutting services, endangering rural health care, increasing the likelihood that more rural hospitals will close, and if they don\u2019t close, they will have to cut services while adding $4 trillion to the debt. That is the definition of bad public policy, and it is what happens when you center the politics rather than the people.\u201d\n\nThe inappropriately named One Big Beautiful Bill puts pressure on hospitals to close, putting more than 16,000 rural healthcare jobs at risk, according to the GA Hospital Association. The GOP Tax bill will kick up to 93,000 Georgians off Medicaid and raise premiums on 1.2 million Georgians who get their health insurance on the marketplace, or Georgia Access. About 52% of kids in rural areas in Georgia are covered by Medicaid according to Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Children and Families (CCF).\n\nSenator Warnock\u2019s Efforts to Protect Rural Hospitals:\n\nThe Senator has spent over 15 years pushing Georgia to expand Medicaid, from his activism as a pastor to advocating for legislation to close the health care coverage gap as a United States Senator.\n\nThe Senator is working to pass the Health Care Affordability Act, which would prevent a spike in health care premiums for the Georgians who get care through Georgia Access.\n\nSenator Warnock secured $1 million in federal funding to fix Evans Memorial Hospital\u2019s leaky roof and prevent damage to life-saving equipment and protect the health and safety of patients from mold.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:02:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warnock-visits-rural-hospital-facing-steep-cuts-due-to-gop-tax-bill/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7284700404852629, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}