Jason Bailey

This is a total disaster. Tick tock, Congress: only you can stop it

Government shutdown is about health care costs, and making life affordable | Opinion OpEd: Health care is among the key household costs that keep many working families awake at night.

OpEd: Health care is among the key household costs that keep many working families awake at night.

Congressional health care fight is about making life affordable • Kentucky Lantern Health care costs keep many working families awake at night. Americans want their government to solve that problem, not make it worse.

Op-Ed: Congressional health care fight is about making life affordable kentuckylantern.com/2025/10/02/c...

Teachers in 40 Kentucky school districts got no raise this year, report says Ahead of the 2026 legislative budget cycle, teachers and advocates reup their calls for Kentucky to invest in education.

As state funding falls behind, teachers in 40 Kentucky school districts got no raise this year www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Costs on Kentucky’s Health Insurance Marketplace Will Explode Without Quick Action From Congress - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy For the nearly 100,000 Kentuckians who signed up for plans on kynect this year, premium costs are on track to skyrocket.

kypolicy.org/aca-marketpl...

If Congress doesn't extend expiring healthcare aid, costs will skyrocket for Kentuckians buying health insurance on kynect:

State Report Shows Educators in Most Kentucky School Districts Received Little or No Raise - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy The typical Kentucky school district increased pay for teachers and other certified employees by 2% this year, with 40 districts giving no raise.

Find out more in @kypolicy.bsky.social
analysis of a new Kentucky Department of Education report here: kypolicy.org/state-report...

The typical KY school district increased teacher pay by only 2% this year, with 40 districts providing no raise at all. Inadequate state funding kept districts from gaining ground on eroding teacher salaries, which are 20% below inflation-adjusted 2008 levels 1/2

Thousands of senior Kentuckians likely to go back on the waitlist for meal support Kentucky officials told agencies that provide senior nutrition programs that they will no longer receive a higher level of support that allowed them to eliminate waitlists.

New $300 million budget shortfall, caused in large part by state income tax cuts, causing thousands of seniors to go on waiting list for meals
www.lpm.org/news/2025-09...

Now the fallout from that choice--and from federal policies on tariffs, immigration and budget cuts that are weakening the economy--is starting to appear. 4/

It was always a losing bet to enact large, permanent cuts to Kentucky's largest revenue source--the individual income tax--based on temporary good times caused by federal COVID stimulus. 3/

Their initial forecast for the upcoming budget shows expected revenue next year being almost equal to revenue last year. That's bad news in an environment where inflation is rising and HR 1 shifts huge new costs to the Kentucky state budget. 2/

Today the state's forecasting body reduced the official revenue estimate for this year by $305 million in the face of a weakening economy and another reduction in the state individual income tax rate to 3.5% to take effect Jan. 2026. 1/

Don’t listen to politicians who say Big Beautiful Bill will save Medicaid | Opinion OpEd: The Big Beautiful Bill weakens Medicaid, straining our healthcare infrastructure, reducing access, and driving up costs for everyone.

👏 Shoutout to @KyVoices4Health & @kypolicy for pushing back and making sure people know what’s at stake: our health care, our hospitals, and our communities. ✍️ Emily Beauregard @KyVoices4Health & Dustin Pugel @kypolicy.bsky.social

Read more ➡️ www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-e...

Kentucky Is Now a Casino State: Slot Machine Gambling Surpasses $10 Billion Annually, But at What Cost? - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Kentucky has rapidly become a casino state as legalized slot machine gambling has proliferated across the bluegrass in recent years. With 13 facilities now operating thousands of slot machines, the am...

Very thorough(bred?) report on how Kentucky is now a big casino state, which are taxed very small.

Kentucky Is Now a Casino State: Slot Machine Gambling Surpasses $10 Billion Annually, But at What Cost? - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy Kentucky has rapidly become a casino state as legalized slot machine gambling has proliferated across the bluegrass in recent years. With 13 facilities now operating thousands of slot machines, the am...

Our new report on the backdoor process by which Kentucky became a casino state, its low tax rate on slots, and growing challenges facing Kentucky as legalized gambling becomes increasingly accessible: kypolicy.org/kentucky-is-...

Kentucky is now a "casino state" with gambling on slot machines surpassing $10 billion this year, more betting per capita than neighboring Ohio. But tax revenue from slots in KY falls far below comparable states even as the problems with gambling addiction grow dramatically. 1/2

Education Funding in Kentucky Remains Inadequate, Inequitable and Uncertain as Kids Head Back to School - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy As Kentucky students head back to school this month, state funding for K-12 education continues to fall well below past efforts, preventing overdue investments to shrink class size, increase student s...

Find out more in the @kypolicy.bsky.social back-to-school analysis here: 2/2 kypolicy.org/education-fu...

As Kentucky kids head back to school, the funding gap between wealthy and poor school districts grew again last year to $4,247 per student. Adjusted for inflation, that's a 13.6% bigger gap than it was in 1990 when the state passed KERA to address insufficient school funding. 1/2

YouTube video by UAW BlueOval SK Union Drive Echoes Workers’ Historic Safety Fight at Ford

BlueOval SK Union Drive Echoes Workers’ Historic Safety Fight at Ford youtu.be/vK5JCibudmM?... via @YouTube

Kentucky Minimum Wage Now Half its Previous Peak, and Below Poverty Line - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy As of this week, it has been 16 years since the minimum wage was increased. Failure to increase this threshold has left working Kentuckians with a wage floor less than half of what it once was and dri...

Kentucky Minimum Wage Now Half its Previous Peak, and Below Poverty Line kypolicy.org/kentucky-min...

Biggest 20 per student district wide, though impacts are much larger for students in need specifically served by most of these programs

With federal education funding frozen, Appalachian learning centers are in peril Six 21st century learning centers run by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appalachia will close permanently if the Trump administration doesn’t restore $87 million in frozen federal education funding to Kent...

"The funds had been approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in the March federal spending stopgap. Now, the Trump administration says they need to investigate whether any of the money has been used to fund a “radical leftwing agenda.”" www.lpm.org/news/2025-07...

Spencer County, Mayfield Independent and Monroe County are the Kentucky school districts where the programs the Trump administration is now withholding funds for--totaling $87 million across the state--made up the largest share of their 2024 federal funds.
Here are the top 20:

Both plans give to the already wealthy and powerful and take from things Kentucky workers and their families need to thrive. Both will increase hardship, worsen health and weaken our economy. It's the same big, ugly idea 4/

And both plans will lead to cuts to public services--though intentionally delayed so the harms happen later. OBBBA will slash Medicaid, SNAP & more, while state income tax cuts will inevitably mean less for schools, health care and other needs. 3/

The tax cuts are heavily skewed to the wealthy in both cases. In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), 64% of the tax cuts in KY go to the wealthiest 20%, and 19% to the richest 1%. And with state income tax reductions, 60% goes to the top 20%, and 29% to the richest 1% 2/

If you hated the big ugly bill that passed Congress, you should also hate the Kentucky legislature’s efforts to reduce or even eliminate the state’s individual income tax. They're the same idea. Here's why: 1/

Federal Budget and Tax Law Will Worsen Health and Hardship in Kentucky and Provide More Giveaways to the Wealthy - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy The law will take health coverage and food assistance from hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians trying to build better lives.

See the new @kypolicy.bsky.social analysis of major elements of the new law here: kypolicy.org/one-big-beau...

The federal budget and tax law that passed last week will worsen health and deepen hardship in Kentucky and provide more giveaways to the already wealthy. Harms include: 1/