Hillary Clinton has jumped into the feud between Kentucky's Republican governor and Democratic attorney general over funding cuts to higher education.
The Democratic presidential front-runner's campaign released a statement Tuesday saying Gov. Matt Bevin's $41 million cuts to colleges and universities are "shortsighted, wrong and may, in fact, be illegal."
Attorney General Andy Beshear filed a lawsuit Monday challenging Bevin's authority to chop the budgets without approval from the legislature. Bevin has said cuts are necessary to pay down the state's pension debt.
Clinton's policy adviser Ann O'Leary wrote that "filling budget shortfalls on the backs of students and their families puts our future at risk." Both Clinton and her rival Bernie Sanders have campaigned on promises to make higher education more attainable.
Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary is May 17.
Complete statement from the release:
“Right now, we should be increasing higher education funding across the country, not putting it on the chopping block. Governor Bevin’s unilateral order to cut state funding for all of Kentucky’s public colleges and universities in the middle of the fiscal year is shortsighted, wrong and may, in fact, be illegal. Filling budget shortfalls on the backs of students and their families puts our future at risk. Hillary Clinton knows this, which is why she would enact a New College Compact that ensures state governments, the federal government, colleges and universities all have skin in the game and money on the table, to make college more affordable and debt less crippling for students and their families in Kentucky and across the country.”
