Huffington Magazine Issue 61 | Page 74

JASON CHERKIS KENTUCKY’S KING familiar with what the senator would approve. McConnell’s staff had the same basic questions for every pitch: How will this help Kentucky? How will this keep University of Kentucky alums from fleeing the state? “He wanted to see the university be an economic driver in the state,” Schweri explains. Using a public university to drive the state’s economy, much less providing public health care, HUFFINGTON 08.11.13 would be anathema to members of the tea party. At least nationally, the Senate minority leader isn’t so generous or noble. McConnell has, almost as a matter of routine, favored corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy over safety net support for Americans living in poverty. Nearly every social support program can count on McConnell’s opposition, from home heating assistance to allowing states to access cheaper medications. Children receive no special exemption from McConnell’s tough A couple attends a group session at Centering Pregnancy, a prenatal care program at Baptist Women’s Clinic in Western Kentucky that benefited from McConnell’s earmark funding.