Newly re-elected Reps. Bishop, Scott discuss bipartisan efforts to move Middle Georgia forward

Hyper-partisanship, politically polarized national TV news and finger-pointing between parties has made it harder for Macon’s congressional representatives to do their jobs.

That’s what Rep. Sanford Bishop, D–Columbus, and Rep. Austin Scott, R–Tifton, said Wednesday morning at an Eggs & Issues forum hosted by the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce. 

“The middle is where most Americans are and that is where we have to find ourselves in order to get things done,” Bishop said. “Our government was structured by our founding fathers based on compromise … We have to struggle and do what we have to do to make that happen.”

Scott said social media is helping fuel division and hyperpartisanship, which is disrupting congress’s “ability to get things done.” He is also concerned about how social media is affecting his children.

“All of this vitriol with the Facebook and everything, that is just pitting American against American,” Scott said. “It’s bad for not just America. It’s bad for the world.”

The forum at Wesleyan College comes two days after Bishop, who has represented District 2 for 32 years, was re-elected for a 17th term and Scott, who has represented District 8 for 13 years, was re-elected for a seventh term.

Despite sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, Bishop and Scott say their healthy working relationship makes bipartisan efforts in Georgia easier.

The pair of congressmen is united in its support of the national park initiative for the Ocmulgee Mounds, a designation that would expand the park, honor the Muskogee (Creek) people and likely boost tourism that could help Macon’s economy.  

A hearing on the matter is scheduled later this month, Scott said, but the designation “should not have taken as long as it has.”

Scott said he has been negotiating with fellow Republicans who are against expanding federal land because of the vast acreage in their home states. 

“Some of those members have pledged not to increase the federal footprint of land by one single acre,” Scott said. “They’re people that I’ve had to go to and say, ‘Hey, well, if you can’t support it, can you? Can you not be against it?’ And so it’s half a vote at the time, sometimes kind of like the last election. It’s half a vote at a time sometimes.”

Bishop said he decided in his first or second term that he was determined to lift up the Muskogee people, preserve the mounds and restore the “broken relationship that was created with the Trail of Tears” when the opportunity presented itself.

“It goes beyond the Muskogee Creeks. It goes back to the Ice Age,” Bishop said. “This is a very, very special site, archaeologically, and it’s worthy of preservation and is worthy of tourism. … It certainly will mean a lot for Middle and Southwest Georgia and for Georgia itself.”

Other topics discussed included the farm bill as it relates to relief for timber losses from Hurricane Helene and the National Defense Authorization Act as it relates to improvements at military installations like Robins Air Force Base.