I know too many families are feeling squeezed by rising costs. I am working to lower everyday expenses—from groceries and energy to childcare and prescription drugs. Regardless of who sets the agenda in Congress, I am focused on making life more affordable.
Lower the Cost of Housing
Invest in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs that support affordable housing, rental assistance, and first-time homeownership
Encourage developers to build more affordable homes by providing tax credits
Provide federal assistance for home repairs so families can stay safely in their homes
Increase the supply of housing near public transit, schools, and job centers by using federal funding as a means to encourage local governments to relax zoning rules
Lower the Cost of Gas and Electricity
Restore tax credits that lower energy bills and support clean energy production
Expand programs like LIHEAP to help people cover heating, cooling, and energy efficiency costs
Cut red tape and increase supply by reforming the permitting process so clean energy projects like wind, solar, and transmission lines can be built more quickly
Lower the Cost of Health Care
Strengthen the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid
Protect the tax credits that help low- and middle-income families afford insurance
Give people more choice by providing a “public option,” a government run health insurance program
Make prescriptions more affordable by protecting Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers, limit annual out of pocket costs for prescriptions to $2,000, and expand these benefits to people outside Medicare
Protect the 340B drug pricing program, which provides discounted prescriptions to low-income patients
Lower the National Debt
Create a bipartisan commission to find solutions to reducing our long-term debt while protecting Social Security and Medicare so families don’t face sudden, across-the-board cuts. A large national debt can lead to higher interest rates/borrowing costs, higher inflation, reduced public benefits, and stagnant wages.
