FRANKFORT — The GOP-controlled Kentucky legislature gave final passage to the state’s executive branch budget allocating over $31 billion in General Fund revenues, sparking heated debates between Republicans and Democrats over funding for education, Medicaid and more.
The Kentucky House of Representatives voted 73-21 to advance House Bill 500 to the desk of Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear with Republicans eventually voting to shut down debate. Lawmakers traded arguments over whether the state budget underfunded school districts, health care benefits and other parts of state government.
On the House floor Wednesday evening, House budget committee chair Jason Petrie, R-Elkton, slammed criticisms of the budget saying that to “restrain the growth of spending is not a cut.”
“A liberal contingent of the United States that believes with all its soul, mind and heart, that if you don’t keep growing government at the fastest pace you can with the most money you can and borrow everything you can through debt, then you are falling behind,” Petrie said. “That is false.”
His impassioned speech defending the budget received a standing ovation from his Republican caucus.
Rep. Chad Aull, D-Lexington, told lawmakers that “others have and will describe in detail the pain that will be felt by our citizens across the commonwealth due to the cuts that are contained within this budget.”
Aull said that a Republican lawmaker had told him that HB 500 “is the worst budget that he’s seen since he’s been up here.”
“You know what? Folks, he’s right,” Aull said. “But this is the part that frustrates me. … We have the power to change this.”
The Kentucky Democratic Party in a social media post lambasted Republicans for using printed out bingo cards — with phrases such as “I’m concerned” and “Disenfranchised” — during debate on the House floor.
“The only joke is thinking the KY GOP have the best interests of Kentuckians in mind,” the party said in a Bluesky post.
While lawmakers had recessed for dinner Wednesday evening after passing HB 500, a Lantern reporter confirmed that a few Republican House lawmakers did have bingo cards, some of them partially filled out, sitting on their desks.
Sarah Ladd contributed to this report.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
Liam Niemeyer covers government and policy in Kentucky and its impacts throughout the Commonwealth for the Kentucky Lantern. He most recently spent four years reporting award-winning stories for WKMS Public Radio in Murray.
