McGrath campaign: McGrath Releases Rural Policy Plan in Eastern Kentucky

Plan addresses how McGrath will partner with farmers, coal workers, small businesses and families to help rural communities

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Retired Marine Lt. Col. Amy McGrath rolled out her Partnering with Rural Kentucky legislative platform today in Martin County. McGrath addressed what she will do to support Kentucky’s rural communities during a visit to RAMP, a non-profit that provides community outreach and hunger relief programs to impoverished children and families.

“Our rural communities are the backbone of our state,” said McGrath. “Our farmers put food on our tables, our coal miners powered our country for decades, and without them, our country would not have been able to prosper. Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell abandoned Kentucky families a long time ago, leaving many without access to clean water, good-paying jobs or adequate health care. As a mother of young kids, it pains me to see families going without the basic necessities to build a better life.” 

McGrath’s platform includes specific policies to prioritize Kentucky farmers, pay back our debt to coal miners, protect and improve rural health care, build up small businesses and aid Kentucky families. 

It calls for implementing fair trade policies that work for family farms, legalizing medical marijuana to help combat our opioid crisis and bring a new industry to our farmers, passing the RECLAIM Act, increasing funding for community health clinics, growing apprenticeship programs and trade schools, expanding access to broadband across the state and providing universal pre-K. 

In April, McGrath provided $1,000 to Martin County to help with the county’s ongoing water crisis as part of her Commonwealth, Common Health initiative, which assists Kentucky communities in weathering the coronavirus outbreak. McGrath’s initiative has given more than $50,000 to aid Kentuckians, including funding food banks in every region of the state.

The Martin County Water District has been consistently unable to provide potable water to many of its customers for a number of years, and the COVID-19 outbreak has made the situation worse. McGrath’s donation provided 11,000 bottles of water to the community through RAMP.