Sen. Isakson Promotes Healthcare Competition

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson says competition is essential to solving the nation’s healthcare problems. His comments came Monday just before President Barack Obama addressed medical experts about national healthcare reform. Senator Isakson said it’s not the quality of American healthcare that’s the problem … it’s the number of uninsured. His solution? -- Improving the current system’s combination of private and public healthcare:

“Having private competition, facilities like Emory that are private, public like Grady competing with one another is a good system. What we have got to guard against is becoming a single-payer government paying system. You take competition out of healthcare and you’ll have less quality and a higher cost.”

Isakson says Medicare Part D is a model of success … where he says thanks to competing providers nearly all seniors now have prescription drug coverage, premium costs are down, and the number of providers is up.

Many Republicans fear the Obama Administration will bring the nation toward a single-payer government system. Several hours after Isakson’s comments President Barack Obama declared to the American Medical Association in Chicago that he does not favor socialized medicine.

BIO Conference Focuses on Diversity

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO, is holding it's annual conference at the Georgia World Congress Center. And much of Monday mornings focus was on creating diversity in the bio workplace, and also, using bio sciences to help close heath gaps among different ethnic groups. About two hundred people came to the
meeting to see Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, among other speakers.

Lisa Gibson attended the workshop, she's the President of the Hawaii Technology and Science Council, and she says the lack of diversity means an absence of viewpoints as new medicines and other bio-applications are made.

"We need all people. It's a crisis for the country, and people need to be paying attention."

The national Science Foundation estimates only eight percent of science and engineering degrees are earned by Blacks and Latinos. And only 28 percent of these science graduates are women, according to that same study.

Isakson: Homeowner Tax Credit 'Still on Life Support'

Governor Sonny Perdue, Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson and Diane Isakson at the podium at the Gold Dome in Atlanta, Ga., as the senator announced his re-election run, on Feb. 17, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender).

Republican Senator Johnny Isakson Tuesday formally announced his candidacy for re-election at the state Capitol.

Isakson says although his $15,000-dollar homeowners tax credit was slashed in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, which he opposed, the tax credit was, "still on life support."

"We're going to be back, and we're going to get it done because we need to stabilize housing.”

Isakson took a swing at plummeting peanut sales in the wake of the salmonella outbreak, and called for boosting Georgia commerce:

"We need to eat more peanuts, we need to make sure that Georgia products are sold around the world. And I can promise you this: every day of my life, as long as I have a breath, I'll be working hard to work for you."

Isakson, flanked at the podium by his wife Diane, Governor Sonny Perdue, fellow Senator Saxby Chambliss and other officials, said Georgians need to sacrifice and work together to get through the recession.

Senior Ga. Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss congratulates Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, as Isakson's wife, Diane, applauds. Isakson announced his re-election run at the state Capitol in Atlanta on Feb. 17, 2009. (Photo: Dave Bender).

The election for the senate seat will be in November of 2010.

No Democratic challenger has come forward, yet.

The 64-year-old Isakson’s political career has also included serving in the U.S. House, as well as in Georgia’s legislature. Isakson plans to tour the state beginning tomorrow with stops in Augusta, Albany and Columbus. On Thursday, he's scheduled to stop at Macon and Savannah.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of Sen. Isakson.

Isakson Opens Re-Election Bid

Georgia’s Johnny Isakson will address members of the state Senate Tuesday--this to mark the beginning of his re-election campaign for a second 6-year term in the U.S. Senate. The 64-year-old Isakson’s political career has also included serving in the U.S. House, as well as in Georgia’s legislature. Isakson plans to tour the state beginning tomorrow with stops in Augusta, Albany and Columbus. On Thursday, he's drop in on Macon and Savannah.

Senators want to mint new coin

U.S. flag in front of the uncompleted National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning near Columbus. (Dave Bender)

U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson want the U.S. Treasury to mint a memorial coin for the Nation Infantry Museum, set to open early next year.

They are calling on the Secretary of the Treasury to mint 350,000 silver coins honoring soldiers and commemorating the creation of the new infantry museum, according to a statement.

Sale of the coins would raise $3.5 million for the museum.

NIF officials say they’ve raised over 80 million of the 100 million dollar project so far.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the museum.

Obama evokes MLK , seeks 'mandate for change' in Georgia

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Monday he doesn't just want to win the White House -- he wants a mandate. And that includes competing in Georgia, a state that hasn't awarded its delegates to a Democrat in 16 years.

"I intend to win right here in the great state of Georgia," Obama told some 300 donors.

They had paid a minimum of $2,300 apiece and crowded into the upscale Atlanta restaurant 103 West to hear him speak. It was the first of two Atlanta fundraisers the Illinois senator headlined Monday night to stock his campaign warchest for the coming general election battle with Republican John McCain.

Obama evoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his hometown, warning Democrats not to forget "the fierce urgency of now."

"We want a mandate for change and we're not just going to run in the same old states and have just everything hinge on Florida," Obama said.

"We're going to try and transform this political map."

He will host a town hall meeting today on the economy in the GOP stronghold of Cobb County.

Georgia Republicans went on the attack against Obama before he'd even arrived in the state. In a conference call with reporters, Georgia's two U.S. senators -- both Republicans -- blasted the Illinois senator on taxes, gas prices and the war in Iraq.

Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson said Georgians need to know about Obama's voting record, which they allege is out of step with many of the state's conservative voters. The Georgia Republican Party also issued a blistering press release taking aim at Obama's decision to forgo public financing for his campaign, among other things.

There's been talk that Georgia could be up for grabs in the November general election. And in South Carolina, two of Obama's top supporters said Monday he would put paid staff on the ground there, in another break with the recent Democratic strategy of bypassing a GOP-dominated state in the general election.

Isakson predicted Monday that Republican candidate John McCain would carry Georgia. He said the Obama camp is touching down in the state in what will be a futile attempt to engineer a win in Dixie.

"I think they would like nothing better than to crack a Southern state," Isakson said.

Chambliss, who's running for re-election this year, praised Obama for bringing new voters into the process.

"I have to commend him for that," Chambliss said. "But we want to make sure that people understand really how this guy has voted and what he stands for."

A spokesman for the Georgia Democratic Party said it was telling that Republicans launched such a coordinated offensive against Obama.

"Don't let our senators fool you -- Georgia is not as red as they would have you believe," Martin Matheny said.

Obama on Monday also received a plug from Georgia Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Vernon Jones on Monday who praised him for battling in the state unlike some previous Democratic presidential candidates "who wrote the South off."

The last Democrat to carry Georgia in a presidential contest was Bill Clinton in 1992.

Jones' comments came a few days after a mailer from his campaign made waves with the Obama camp. The flier featured a composite picture of Jones and Obama under Obama's signature slogan: "Yes We Can!

The Obama campaign issued a statement which said "despite what this mailer inaccurately suggests, Sen. Obama will not endorse a candidate in the U.S. Senate primary in Georgia." Jones brushed aside such criticism on Monday and said the flier merely shows that he's supporting Obama.

Jones volunteered that he can help Obama.

"For Sen. Obama to win Georgia he's going to need conservative Democrats like myself, obviously that's the great need," Jones said.

GA Gets $5 Million Workforce Development Grant

The funding will support two Georgia Work Ready regions affected by the Army's multi-year Base Realignment and Closure program (BRAC).

U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao gave the grant to Governor Sonny Perdue, U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R), and U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson(R) in a ceremony in Atlanta.

The funds will assist in planned expansion of Fort Benning and the transitions of Fort Gillem, Fort McPherson and the Navy Supply Corps School, as part of regional workforce development projects.

“Over the years, Georgia has shown its deep commitment to support our military troops and their families,” Perdue said. “This grant will help ensure that Georgia’s bases impacted by the BRAC process continue to be valuable assets for our state.”

• Fort Benning will get $3 million to develop a workforce for industrial construction; automotive maintenance and aerospace advanced manufacturing; and information and communication technologies
• Fort Gillem, Fort McPherson, Navy Supply Corps School will get the remaining $2 million to transition the workforce at these facilities with a focus on new jobs associated with the life sciences industry cluster, according to a statement from the Governor's Office.
  

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the BRAC project, and its effect on the state.

Lawmakers seek answers in refinery blast

Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss are calling for a federal investigation into last week’s deadly explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth. The blast killed eight people and injured dozens. The senators hope a “complete and thorough investigation” will shed light on causes of the tragedy and ways to improve factory safety.

Isakson sees improvement in Iraq

In a conference call with reporters today, Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson praised the “remarkable progress” he witnessed in Iraq last weekend and said Georgian troops made a “significant investment” towards that success. Isakson confirmed reports by military leaders and President Bush that the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq over recent months is working. He also said the improved conditions are encouraging Iraqi political stability, but he urged Iraqi leaders to act quickly: “They have a window of opportunity. When that window closes if they haven’t moved forward, then everything they’ve got could dissipate very quickly.” Senator Isakson’s six day trip to the region included stops in Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea. He last visited Iraq in March 2006.