Politics

Through a single piece of legislation, Sen. Rand Paul is hoping to cut a corporate tax and get more revenue for transportation projects.

Here's how: When American companies make money overseas and put it in foreign banks, they have to pay a tax to bring the money back to the U.S.  Paul is sponsoring legislation that lowers the tax companies pay to transfer foreign profits to America from 35 percent to 5 percent. Many of those companies keep that money overseas instead of paying the 35-percent tax.

The new tax revenue generated under Paul's proposal would be put into a transportation fund, which could benefit projects including the Ohio River Bridges and the Brent Spence Bridge in Northern Kentucky.

A  lot of money is sitting overseas, and a lower tax rate would entice companies to bring it home, Paul spokesman Dan Bayens said.

Governor Beshear has some strong words about the state's senior U.S. Senator. During a visit to Bowling Green Wednesday, Beshear told WKU Public Radio that he thinks Republican Mitch McConnell symbolizes the partisan bickering and obstructionism that has plagued Washington D.C. recently.

"And of course Sen. McConnell has been a part of that for the past 30 years. It's gotten worse, it hasn't gotten better. And he's gotten to be part of the problem and not part of the solution. So I think people are looking for a change," said Beshear. "We just have to give them a good alternative."

Beshear says he believes Senator McConnell would be "vulnerable" against a strong Democratic challenge next year.

McConnell has said he's ready to defend his record against any challengers during the 2014 Senate contest, and believes the majority of Kentuckians support his efforts to block key parts of President Obama's agenda.

McConnell has been amassing a campaign war chest and staffers to help his re-election efforts. Scott Jennings, a longtime Kentucky GOP operative who is working with two SuperPacs that support McConnell, says the Republican incumbent has attracted a great deal of support based on his legislative work in Washington.

"And I think that's why you're seeing such an early formation of a political apparatus designed to re-elect him, because he's done a good job and he's done right by the state of Kentucky and that's why you have some of these folks doing what they're doing," Jennings recently told Kentucky Public Radio.

Democrats have yet to land a high-profile challenger to take on McConnell next year.