Ossoff, Jon

Jon Ossoff represents Georgia in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. As ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, he leads the minority party's oversight of federal spending for military construction projects, the Department of Veterans Affairs, military family housing, and related programs. This position gives him significant influence over which defense and veterans priorities receive federal funding, particularly important for Georgia, which hosts 13 major defense installations. Ranking members direct the minority party's strategy and questioning during committee hearings and negotiations.

Ossoff was born in Atlanta in 1987 and is the youngest sitting U.S. senator. Before his election to the Senate in 2021, he worked as a national security staffer for Representative Hank Johnson and as managing director of an investigative production company that documented corruption and war crimes internationally. He earned a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a master's degree from the London School of Economics. His background in investigative journalism and national security policy directly informs his work on military and veterans issues.

As ranking member, Ossoff has held hearings on military construction funding priorities and military family housing conditions. He has investigated and exposed mistreatment of military families living in privatized housing and advocated for stronger oversight of housing contractors. He has also secured federal funding for specific Georgia projects, including $500,000 for planning and design of a new elementary school at Fort Benning. Beyond his subcommittee role, Ossoff has passed bipartisan legislation addressing veterans' mental health care, child development centers for military families, and improvements to VA health care for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Ossoff has built a reputation for bipartisanship, ranking in the top third of senators for cross-party cooperation. He has championed Georgia's economic development and military readiness while also advancing progressive priorities on healthcare, corruption reform, and civil rights. In his first two years in the Senate, he passed more standalone bills into law than any other freshman senator.