One Pager: Waycross, GA 150th Anniversary
Celebration
By Cale Ledford

Infrastructure

• Improving Rural Airports. Senator Warnock is committed to taking Georgians to new heights. This is why In March 2023, the Senator secured some 1.5 million dollars through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (H.R. 3684), to improve rural airports in Cook, Hazlehurst, Jenkins, Elbert, and Ware Counties. The grants are from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and are administered by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).

Okefenokee Swamp

• Preserving Black Culture. In 2023, Senator Warnock secured $497,000 in federal funding for Okefenokee Swamp Park in South Georgia. The Senator successfully requested this funding from the federal government’s fiscal year 2023 budget. This funding aims to preserve the significance of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 1433, a group of nearly 200 Black workers who were consequential in the development of the Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge from 1937-1941.

• Waycross to the World. Senator Warnock joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues to make the Okefenokee Swamp a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If confirmed, the Okefenokee Swamp would be one of only 168 UNESCO World Heritage Sites from around the world. Other UNESCO sites include the Colosseum in Rome, Italy and the Great Wall in China.

• Saving the Swamp. The Senator knows the environmental significance the Okefenokee Swamp plays in Ware County. Because of this, Senator Warnock joined Senator Ossoff in writing a letter to the Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2021 urging the consideration of the negative impact that a heavy mineral sand mine would have on the integrity of the Okefenokee Refuge.

Housing

• Making Housing Affordable. The Senator knows firsthand how difficult it can be for hardworking Georgians to afford a home. So, in February 2023, the Senator worked diligently to bring home over $78 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) FY 2023 Public Housing Capital Fund Formula Grant Awards. Ware County received $1,043,410 in Public Housing Capital Funds.

• Continued Commitment to Housing Georgians. In 2024 Senator Warnock continued his promise to fight the housing crisis, by securing $80 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) FY 2024 Public Housing Capital Fund Formula Grant Awards. The Housing Authority of the City of Waycross was one of 149 communities across the state to receive federal funding, with Waycross receiving some $1,097,202 in federal assistance.

Disaster Relief​

• Natural Disaster Relief. Senator Warnock has taken every opportunity to push for additional funding and support to assist farmers negatively affected by natural disasters. The Senator led a bipartisan group of his colleagues in the Georgia delegation in sending a letter to Congressional Appropriations leadership sharing our support for Governor Brain Kemp's disaster funding request for Georgia in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. In addition, he led a bipartisan letter to Senate Appropriations leadership, urging the Appropriations Committee to include sufficient funding to meet the needs of farmers in Georgia in any supplemental government funding package following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. This letter also asks the Appropriations Committee to consider structuring a portion of agriculture disaster funding as state block grants for Georgia's producers, including timber growers.

• Hurricane Helene and Milton. The Senator knows that Georgians’ still need help recovering from Hurricane Helene and Milton. In October 2024 Senator Warnock joined a bipartisan group of Senators from the Southeast in asking the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a disaster funding request to Congress, following the devastation of Hurricane Helene and Milton. Now, in December, with the OMB’s request submitted, the Senator is still calling on his Senate colleagues to vote yes on the White House’s emergency funding request, immediately. This supplemental disaster relief bill will bring communities in Georgia, like Waycross, back to where they were before these devastating storms.

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