FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Governor Steve Beshear is expressing concern about the effects the federal debt ceiling impasse might have on Kentucky's budget.

Beshear said Thursday that Kentucky, like every other state, is watching anxiously while hoping for a quick resolution that would keep federal funding flowing for programs like education, medical care for the poor and elderly, and transportation services.

The Democratic governor told reporters he's particularly worried that economic gains at the national and state levels of the past year could be erased if the impasse continues.

Beshear called on everyone involved to be statesmen and to put aside partisan bickering that he said appears to be the basis of the impasse.

Beshear also says he tried to juggle his schedule to join President Barack Obama at Fort Campbell even though he wasn't invited.

Beshear said he didn't feel he needed an invitation to greet Obama during his visit to the Army base in Kentucky where the commander in chief met with the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden.

Beshear, who is seeking re-election this year, told reporters Thursday that he didn't snub the president and that the president didn't snub him.

Beshear did nothing at the time to dispel the accusation that he had snubbed Obama, even though it was widely circulated through the media.

Beshear's Republican opponent, David Williams, accused Beshear of deliberately misleading the public to improve his political standing in a state where Obama is unpopular.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)