Thread by @sclaudwhitehead

We're nearing the end of the @GaDPH budget hearing and we're just now getting in the numbers.

The big takeaway? Most of the things the state has been doing to fight the pandemic has been funded by the feds.

Here's a slide breaking down some of that money.

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#gapol

@GaDPH And it looks, from Toomey's slides, that there isn't really a request for more state money to supplement that.

Some state money goes to matching federal grants, Toomey says, but needing to have that money has made them careful about what grants to take.

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@GaDPH So, in the middle of a pandemic that's not under control, in the middle of a vaccine rollout that's not going all that smoothly, Georgia looks like it will continue to rely on the feds to fund their response.

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@GaDPH Kind of hard to imagine that it would be politically dangerous to throw a bit of scratch at an agency that's been really kicked about as it's tried to handle the pandemic, an agency that faced pretty big budget cuts this time last year, as the pandemic was starting.

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@GaDPH Yes, we're just hearing initial proposals this week and we've seen how they can change before they get final approval.

But we're seeing our top state health official not even publicly asking for more state support to fight the pandemic.

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@GaDPH Hey, @jsalzerajc, you know this stuff pretty well.

I'd imagine agency heads know not to ask for what they're not going to get. Can we take this as a sign that DPH has been told privately they can't get any state money? I'd imagine it's taking cues from @GovKemp et al?

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@GaDPH @jsalzerajc @GovKemp Everyone who's frustrated that they can't get a local public health office to pick up the phone to answer your vaccine questions, that they don't have an online booking system ... this is the kind of thing I'd imagine they could do with money not tied to a crisis.

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@GaDPH @jsalzerajc @GovKemp Asked about morale at the agency, Toomey said some workers are getting some negative attention on social media, asked lawmakers to "thank their public health workers."

No money for raises, it seems for those workers in the DPH budget.

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