The American people very clearly saw who was fighting for their healthcare and who didn't care if their healthcare premiums went up, and they saw who was willing to let people go hungry and who wasn't.Gov. Andy Beshear
While the federal government has given the green light to states to begin work on providing full SNAP benefits and dollars will again start flowing to other programs such as TANF and Head Start, Beshear steered away from weighing in on the wisdom of the Senate agreement that ultimately ended the record-setting shutdown.
"There aren't winners in a shutdown, but I think the American people very clearly saw who was fighting for their healthcare and who didn't care if their healthcare premiums went up, and they saw who was willing to let people go hungry and who wasn't," he said Thursday.
Kentucky Republicans have have laid the blame squarely on Democrats, who blocked the government funding measure for weeks in a bid to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
"It's a 100% total surrender," GOP Congressman James Comer said. "The Democrats gained nothing. They put a big percentage of the American people through a lot of unnecessary pain."
Fellow Kentucky Congressman Brett Guthrie appeared to concur, posting to social media that the deal is a "long overdue win in support of our military families, air traffic controllers, federal employees, and those relying on SNAP benefits."
A potential presidential candidate in 2028, Beshear will chair the Democratic Governors Association in 2026 as his party looks to craft a winning strategy going into the midterm elections.
While the Kentucky governor has periodically criticized fellow Democrats, including taking California Gov. Gavin Newsom to task over his decision to host Trump ally Steve Bannon on his podcast, he's largely remained supportive or neutral when asked about the differing strategies adopted by other Democratic governors during Trump's second term.