When President Trump and his congressional lapdogs brag about tariffs, let’s be clear about what they really are: a tax. A tax paid not by foreign governments, but by families like yours and mine.
During the holiday season, as families and friends come together to honor tradition and find comfort in fellowship, the increased cost of day-to-day living — groceries, utilities and health care — is front and center on everyone’s minds. They deserve to be worried.
Everywhere I go in the commonwealth, I meet Kentuckians who are doing all the right things to build a good life for themselves and their families. They put in a hard day’s work every day. They contribute to our economy and take care of their kids, parents and neighbors. Still, they find themselves wondering why they can’t get ahead.
I spoke with a farmer named Jim recently. He’s worked the same Kentucky land his father and grandfather worked before him, and he’s no stranger to lean seasons. But Jim told me that this year is something altogether different, and it weighs heavily on his mind day and night.
The price of the steel he needs for repairs? Up. Fertilizer? Up. The parts he relies on to keep his equipment running? Way up. His international markets for soybeans? Shrinking. “Tariffs are coming out of my pocket,” he told me. And for the first time in decades, Jim had to stop planting soybeans altogether because he’d lose money trying.
Trump tariffs are crushing working Kentuckians
Jim’s story is Kentucky’s story. So, when Mr. Trump and his congressional lapdogs brag about tariffs, let’s be clear about what they really are: a tax. A tax paid not by foreign governments, but by families like yours and mine. Kentuckians shouldn’t have to pay more for groceries, farm equipment and holiday meals because someone in Washington wants to score political points. We deserve an economy that lifts people up who work hard every day, not one that knocks them down with higher costs and fewer opportunities to market their products.
While it varies by region, a typical couple in Louisville already spends between $450 to $650 a month just on groceries. The story is the same across America. In September, butter hit $4.78 per pound, and steak reached $14.13 per pound. Coffee prices jumped 20% over the year, driven in part by 40% tariffs on Brazilian imports. Grocery prices just had their highest monthly increase in three years. And families getting ready for the holiday season are experiencing this first-hand. Prices continue to rise. But wages and incomes are not keeping up.
And it’s not just the high grocery prices that are making it harder for Kentuckians.
Health care is unaffordable for too many in Kentucky
A few weeks ago, I heard a story that broke my heart. A woman in Franklin County was recovering in a hospital room. She had just switched jobs and didn’t have insurance yet. She needed rehab to have a shot at recovery, but no facility would take her without coverage. She cried at night because she didn’t know what would happen to her. She did everything right. She worked. She paid her taxes. She played by the rules. The system failed her.
Health care shouldn’t depend on whether you had the “right” job on the “right” day. Affordable, reliable care is the foundation of strong communities and a strong economy. Meanwhile, the Bombastically Bad Bill (“BBB”) passed by Congress this past summer only made health care and food insecurity problems worse.
The price of everything — from the meal on the table to the electricity that keeps the lights on to the medical care that keeps us healthy — is impacted by whether our leaders are making choices for working people or for themselves.
Kentuckians deserve better than this
Kentuckians shouldn’t have to choose between paying the utility bill and creating memories that keep holiday traditions alive. We shouldn’t be squeezed harder every time the president makes another dumb decision, like tariffs, that drive up costs.
Kentucky deserves so much better than this. You deserve to live in a state where your hard work pays off, where your grocery bill doesn’t skyrocket because of political games. Where your health care is stable and affordable, and where our industries lead the country instead of getting sideswiped by economic decisions made without us in mind.
You’ve earned a better future. It’s time to put the American dream within reach again.