KDP: Congress Must Reject Massive Cuts To Food Assistance, Health Care and Education

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Today, as Congress weighs the latest version of Trump’s ugly billionaire-first budget scheme, Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) Chair Colmon Elridge released the following statement urging members of Kentucky’s Congressional Delegation to reject this bill’s massive cuts to food assistance, health care and education, which would devastate Kentucky families and communities:

“This shameful budget guts vital resources meant to help Kentuckians create better lives for their families, including Medicaid, food assistance and education. Our representatives took an oath to protect and serve Kentuckians — not to serve billionaires or protect their own political futures. And if they fail to live up to that oath, Democrats will make sure they cannot betray their constituents in the dark.”

Kentucky stands to lose more under this budget than almost any other state. The effects of cuts to health care, food assistance and education in our Commonwealth include:

• An estimated 210,000 Kentuckians losing health care over the next decade
• 35 rural Kentucky hospitals closing and 20,000 Kentucky health care workers losing their jobs
• The end or reduction in food support for more than 575,000 Kentuckians
• Shrinking Pell Grants and the death of multiple programs dedicated to helping tens of thousands of low-income Kentucky students afford higher education
• 150,000 Kentucky households struggling to afford utility bills in dangerous heat and freezing cold