Tagged: STEVE BESHEAR

It's not advisable to swat flies with a sledge hammer. 

NPR reports many believe that if the US Supreme Court takes down the Affordable Healthcare Act, the entire healthcare system could go down with it.

The Kentucky Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee approved a $4.5 billion transportation budget but not before inserting language that would restore nearly $50 million for road construction projects previously vetoed by Governor Steve Beshear. The spending measure now advances to the Senate floor for a planned vote today. Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chairman Bob Leeper cited a "fit of conscience" for his push to put the $50 million in road projects back into the transportation budget.

Governor Steve Beshear signed the six-year road plan on Wednesday, but line-item vetoed projects in a two-year plan only in Senate President David Williams' district.

According to the governor's office, the vetoes in the shorter plan were necessary because Williams moved his projects to the front of the line. The changes to the legislation cut $49.7 million worth of projects in Williams's district and restore the funding to its original levels.

The Kentucky House has tentatively scheduled floor votes today on a transportation budget and a prescription drug abuse bill.  Both measures passed out of House committees yesterday.  Once the House has finished, the Senate will review the measures intended to appropriate money for road construction projects and to curb overdose deaths from widespread prescription drug abuse in the state.  Lawmakers have been meeting in special legislative session since Monday at a cost of more than $60,000 a day.

Kentucky Senate President David Williams is renewing his call for Governor Steve Beshear to act quickly on an unfunded road plan that cleared the legislature last week.