OP-ED: Gov. Beshear: Kentucky Is Reigniting the American Dream for Families

This week I delivered my seventh State of the Commonwealth and last Budget Address. I was proud to report that our state remains strong - but our people, our commonwealth and our country are facing new challenges, and it's our job to meet this moment.

For the first time in my lifetime, a large portion of the American public is questioning one of the most important foundations of our country: the American Dream.

The American Dream is as simple as it is powerful: If you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. You can build a better life. You can leave your kids better off.

We have a responsibility to reignite and re-fuel the American Dream. In Kentucky, we are showing the way forward.

While our national politics has been poisoned with division, we have won as one team - Team Kentucky - by finding common ground to move our state not right, not left, but forward for everyone.

The American Dream starts with a job. It's what supports a family and drives our economy. I'm proud to say no administration has created more.

We've more than doubled Kentucky's previous investment record with over $45 billion in new investment, securing the first-, second-, third- and fifth-biggest years for economic development on record. We've also broken our job-creation records with 68,000 new jobs at the highest three-year average for new wages in our history.

A good job is where the American Dream starts, but a home is where it lives. Sadly, owning that home seems out of reach for too many Americans.

In Kentucky, we're doing better than most. We're one of the best states in the nation for housing affordability and our unprecedented rebuilding efforts after natural disasters in Eastern and Western Kentucky are being recognized nationally.

The American Dream is about living a long, healthy life where you raise your kids and eventually spoil your grandkids.

That's why we've continued efforts to expand health care.

We opened the new Norton West Louisville - the first hospital in West Louisville in 150 years.

We've also opened Pikeville Medical Center's new children's hospital and its Appalachian Valley Autism Center, which serves over 100,000 children, covering 23 Eastern Kentucky counties. And we broke ground on or opened facilities in Lexington, Owensboro and Paducah, and in Bullitt, Floyd and Mason counties.

And, as of last month, safe, regulated medical cannabis is now available in Kentucky.

To restore the American Dream for the next generation, we must be wise and intentional with our policies and priorities.

My budget begins by reinvesting in job creation through $70 million for site development, $100 million for large projects that just need that last bit of infrastructure, and $25 million for a rural economic development fund to bring jobs to every part of our state.

My budget also makes a bold investment to preserve the American Dream of owning a home with a game-changing $150 million in our Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Combined with private dollars, this would create $1 billion of new housing.

My budget also pushes back against the President's "big, ugly bill," which could close 35 rural hospitals, fire 20,000 health-care workers, and eliminate coverage for 200,000 Kentuckians. My proposal fully funds Medicaid; provides $100 million to lower the cost of coverage on our health-insurance exchange, kynect; expands the number of Michelle P. Waiver slots for families of children with special needs; includes $25 million for nursing student loan forgiveness; and creates a $125 million rural hospital fund.

My faith tells me that no one should go hungry. But actions by the Trump administration regarding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, program are risking that for 114,000 Kentuckians.

We can't let that happen.

My budget provides $50 million to help our hardworking Kentucky food banks do more. It also creates a $75 million fund to help at-risk Kentuckians pay their utility bills.

The core of the American Dream is about empowering our kids to do better.

I am unapologetically a 100% pro-public education governor. Once again, my administration is doing what's right: I'm proposing $159 million for mandatory raises for educators and to increase their take-home pay by nearly 7%.

That brings me to the most important choice in this session for our future, our businesses, our families and our children: funding Pre-K for All.

Pre-K for All will increase kindergarten readiness; boost parents' earnings by nearly $9,000 per year for at least six years; and grow Kentucky's workforce by up to 70,000.

Restoring the American Dream is our sacred duty. We cannot leave a broken country to our children.

This polarized moment in our history won't last forever. I'm proud that Kentucky is showing a pathway out of the darkness and into the light.

Let's deliver a 2026 filled with prosperity and promise.

- Gov. Andy Beshear