After a year of chaos and corruption stemming from this administration, Senator Reverend Warnock focused on health care as 750,000 Georgians risk losing their coverage and rural hospitals are put on the brink of going broke

Senator Warnock highlighted Evans Memorial Hospital in South Georgia, which faces losing critical services like their ICU services because of Washington Republican’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The hospital currently faces a potential $1 million shortfall due to the GOP tax law, with continued uncertainty leaving that could drive that number higher

ICYMI from CBS News: Warnock invites South Georgia hospital CEO to State of the Union amid rural health care funding concerns

Above: Senator Warnock and Bill Lee meet the press ahead of the State of the Union

Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) rebuked President Trump and Washington Republicans’ devastating cuts to health care in last year’s GOP tax law that will kick 750,000 Georgians off their health care and put rural hospitals at risk. The president and his party shamelessly celebrated these health care cuts during this year’s State of the Union speech. 

Above: Senator Warnock and Bill Lee catching up in the Senator’s D.C. office following their August 2025 meeting in Claxton

During the State of the Union, Donald Trump highlighted his sole legislative feat in his first year back in office, which centered on cutting federal investments in health care to pay for a tax cut for billionaires. To underscore the harms of these cuts, Senator Warnock invited Evans Memorial Hospital CEO Bill Lee as his guest to the State of the Union. Evans Memorial is a rural, not-for-profit hospital located in the South Georgia town of Claxton. In August 2025, Senator Warnock met with Bill at Evans Memorial following the passage of Washington Republicans’ tax law. Evans Memorial currently faces a $1 million shortfall due to the GOP tax law, with continued uncertainty that could drive that number higher. 

More coverage of Senator Warnock’s reaction to the State of the Union can be found below:

WTOC: Sen. Warnock calls on president to protect Medicaid, rural hospitals ahead of State of the Union

• Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said ahead of the 2026 State of the Union address that he wanted the president to address healthcare and Medicaid funding, calling them among the biggest concerns for ordinary people.

• Warnock said families in rural Georgia disproportionately rely on Medicaid and that rural hospitals are struggling.
  
  
• Warnock brought Bill Lee, CEO of Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, as his guest for Tuesday night’s address. Lee said smaller hospitals like his are making difficult decisions due to tight budgets.

CBS News: Warnock invites South Georgia hospital CEO to State of the Union amid rural health care funding concerns

• U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock will bring a South Georgia hospital leader to Washington this week as his guest to the State of the Union address, highlighting growing concerns about rural health care funding in Georgia.
  
  
• Warnock announced that Bill Lee, CEO of Evans Memorial Hospital in Claxton, will attend Tuesday’s address as lawmakers debate the future of federal health care programs.
  
  
• Evans Memorial Hospital, a rural nonprofit facility serving Claxton and surrounding communities since 1968, is facing what leaders describe as mounting financial pressure. According to Warnock’s office, the hospital could lose critical services — including its intensive care unit — and is confronting a potential $1 million shortfall tied to recent federal tax and health care policy changes.
  
  
• The hospital has already scaled back services in recent years. In the past, Evans Memorial shuttered its labor and delivery unit, citing rising costs and financial challenges.

MS NOW: Warnock: Trump is a ‘desperate and divisive demagogue’ who unleashes ‘poison’ into politics

• Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., joined MS NOW to share his reaction to Trump’s address, describing the president’s remarks as “the rumblings of a desperate man who is trying to present the best case he can for the midterms.”

• Warnock said Trump’s speech was “half lies, half grievances” and lacked substance. He called the president the “ultimate performer,” adding, “He is a reality television show entertainer, and we got a whole lot of that tonight.”
  
  
• The Georgia Democrat, who also serves as the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said Trump was a “plague on the American conscience.”
  
  
• “He is a desperate and divisive demagogue who’s trying to distract us because he doesn’t know how to lead us,” he told MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow.

• “What we witnessed tonight is really deeper than partisan politics,” he continued. “I’m not naive about what happens in politics. We’ve all seen the brass knuckle politics. You know, it’s a contact sport. But I can tell you, as someone who was sitting in the chamber tonight, he unleashes a kind of poison into our politics that divides neighbor against neighbor.”
  
  
• Warnock said Trump was “tearing at the fabric of our nation” to keep the American people distracted.

WSB Radio: Warnock hopes Trump addresses problems impacting Americans during State of the Union address

• Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and other Democratic leaders are urging president Donald Trump to address rising costs facing Americans, including healthcare and the overall cost of living during his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.

• Warnock said the president should focus on financial pressures affecting American families.
  
• “I’ll be listening very carefully to hear what the president has to say about these problems which, in my view, he has exacerbated made worse in the last year,” Warnock said. “I think the people of America are looking for answers.”

• Warnock believes affordability remains a main concern for Georgians.

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