Potential cuts and potential catastrophe to Georgia and beyond: a conversation with Congressman Hank Johnson and stakeholders in Head Start, SNAP, and Medicaid

This past Friday (May 9, 2025), Congressman Hank Johnson hosts a roundtable with local leaders and parents who are invested stake and shareholders regarding Head Start, SNAP, and Medicaid. During this time, all articulated the areas they work in, the positive impact of the combination of nonprofit and Federal entities working together, along with the potential problems which can ensue not only with the audiences served, but probable negative "halo effects" on aspects related to the economy, education, healthcare, food access, and other integral areas.

The roundtable includes Robert Contino (CEO/Board Certified Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Physician with Ethne Health), Donna Davidson (President/CEO of Easter Seals of North Georgia), Hannah Goldberg (Director of Research and Policy of GEEARS/Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students [she serves as the facilitator of the roundtable]), Chad Jones (Vice President for Business Development at View Point Health), Alejandra Martinez (Director of Family Services at Sheltering Arms), Polly McKinney (Advocacy Director for Voices for Georgia's Children), Dr. Andria McMichael (Chief of Education Officer for YMCA of Metro Atlanta), Matt Pieper (Chief Executive Officer for Open Hand Atlanta), Adrianne Pinkney (Parent and Chair of the YMCA of Metro Atlanta Family Policy Council), along with a member of a family who receives necessary support from the aforementioned areas.

Before diving into the conversation, just taking a look at some of the data shows how critical these services are:

• Among the range of health coverage provided including (but not limited to) pregnant women, newborns, and children (from birth through age 19) for low-income families, children from families with higher incomes who have complex medical needs, and all children in foster care, Medicare covers 42% of Georgia's children (essentially 2 out of 5 children).*

• Nearly half (46%) of Georgia births are covered by Medicaid.*

• Nearly half (48%) of Georgia's children who have special health care needs are covered by Medicaid.*

• Slightly more than 335,000 of Georgia's children under the age of 18 are impacted by food insecurity.**

Potentially, the current Republican budget proposal (Congress) referred to as the Reconciliation Act would move to do the following over the next 10 years:

• Reduce funding for Medicaid by $880 billion (Energy and Commerce Committee).

• Reduce funding for SNAP by $230 billion (Agriculture Committee).

• Reduce funding for Head Start and related childcare services by $330 billion (Education and Workforce Committee).

• This would be a minimum of $1.4 trillion over a 10 year period.

Needless to say, cuts this drastic would wreak havoc and create catastrophic situations for the people who are served by these services, the people who work in said areas, along the potential direct and indirect problems which would ensue. To get a better sense of the scope of the issues at hand, hearing from those who are in these fields day to day provides tremendous insight.

Among the topics covered in the first segment (with Congressman Johnson and Matt Pieper of Open Hand Atlanta) include potential increases to the deficit to support tax benefits to the top 5% of the US population to the 1 of 9 kids in GA being food insecure. In the second segment, Polly McKinney (Voices for Georgia's Children) speaks to the policy and advocacy done for children and the related and ensuing focus areas of impact (both are provided below):

Donna Davidson (Easter Seals of North Georgia) speaks to the impact of Head Start and the families served while Adrianne Pinckney (Family Council Chair for the YMCA of Metro-Atlanta) provides a personal testimony of how said programming provides much needed help along with her advocacy for parents and families in need of these and related wrap-around services (both are provided below):

Dr. Andria McMichael (YMCA of Metro Atlanta) notes how much of a one-stop shop their entity is in combination with a number of the aforementioned programs and services; Alejandra Martinez (Sheltering Arms) provides additional context on the impact of Head Start and the interrelated work done with families and other areas of need (both are provided below):

Before opening up the floor for questions from the media, Robert Contino (MD with Ethne Health) shares the range of medical services provided, the communities served, and the need for Medicaid across the board. Chad Jones (View Point Health) provides related information on access and quality of care not in their service areas along with larger concerns across the state; in serving as the roundtable facilitator, Dr. Hanah Goldberg (GEEARS) reinforces the importance of the conversation around said services and resources (the segment is provided below):

During the time for media questions, we asked about what all see as the action play (immediate to long-term) let alone what would happen if the proverbial "pulling of the plug" takes place given the current budget proposal; to say the impacts would be adverse and catastrophic are understatements (please watch the full q/a):

Again, with a potential of $1.4 trillion cutting from Head Start, SNAP, and Medicaid would be more than just a loss of services. It would result in a lower quality of services, let alone access for children and families in need; combined with potential adverse halo effects ranging from what amount of the financial gaps would the state be able to take on to stresses in the medical system to workforce development would bring on a potential onslaught of negative consequences across multiple areas in the community, state, and beyond.

As noted in this past Friday, it's more than a conversation about awareness and understanding, but a call to action to reduce the possibility of a broad-scale set of challenges which would cut across the state at minimum.

Notes: You may watch the full playlist along with watching the embedded video by clicking HERE. All photography and video are recorded via asnortonccs. As an aside, we would like to thank GEEARS (*) and Voices for Georgia's Children (**) for providing research and related data shared in our article.