Healthcare And Education Will Dominate Discussions In General Assembly, Oconee Sen. Bill Cowsert Told Local Officials

Bill Cowsert, who represents Oconee County in the Georgia Senate, told a group of local officials last month that he expects healthcare and education to dominate much of the work of the session of the General Assembly that starts on Monday.

Cowsert, who is Republican Majority leader, was speaking even before the U.S. Senate began its efforts this week to unravel the Affordable Care Act.

“You hear Obamacare, Medicaid expansion,” he said. “That’s part of the issue. Every state, whether we continue with some types of subsidies, like the Obamacare system, or not, we have to make sure that our citizens have adequate healthcare.”

Cowsert said he also expects that the General Assembly is “going to spend a lot of energy on education funding issues” in the upcoming session, with affluent counties such as Oconee on one side of the issue and poorer counties on the other.

Cowsert didn’t use the terms “sharing of wealth,” but he talked instead about “shifting some money from the haves to the have nots to make sure every kid in Georgia gets a good education.”

Cowsert was joined in the session at the session at the Oconee County Civic Center on Dec. 7 by Rep. Regina Quick and Rep. Chuck Williams, who split representation of Oconee County between them.

All are Republicans and in the majority in the Georgia General Assembly.

For more on the story, including the complete video of the session, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: Cowsert, center, flanked by Quick and Williams.