GOP Delivers Rising Premiums, Prices and Unemployment for the Holidays

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Today, the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) released the following statement on ways the GOP’s cost-of-living crisis is affecting Kentuckians this holiday season. Reports show Kentucky families are spending more to buy fewer gifts because of Republican economic policies, including tariffs, trade wars and federal funding and workforce cuts.

“Republicans are creating a reality where only the wealthy can celebrate the holidays without taking people off the guest list, going into debt or cutting back on essentials,” said KDP Chair Colmon Elridge. “While President Trump calls affordability a ‘hoax,’ Kentuckians who voted for him because he promised to lower prices ‘on day one’ are losing jobs, food and health care. And that’s the real scam.”

Signs of the GOP’s cost-of-living crisis include:

• A 26% increase in the cost of holiday shopping lists, driven by tariff-induced prices hikes on:
  
  • Home and kitchen items - 38%
  • Electronics - 34%
  • Clothing, shoes and accessories - 20%
  • Toys and games - 17%
• The highest number of job cuts since 2020
• Four consecutive months of rising unemployment, a first since 2009
• A 60% increase in farm bankruptcies
• A 13% increase in electric bills
  

Finally, as a direct result of Republicans voting to end tax credits for working families, 100,000 Kentuckians will see health insurance premiums skyrocket in the new year. The KDP launched a petition to hold Kentucky’s Republican congressional delegation accountable for ignoring the needs of their constituents, along with a website to track the long-term effects of hospital-closing Medicaid cuts in the ugly federal budget.