A Florida Democrat sounded the alarm on affordability and attacked Republicans for their priorities.
Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who currently represents the Broward County area of South Florida, recently convened residents and small business owners to share how high gas, grocery and housing costs continue to hurt South Florida families and small business owners. Sounding the alarm on a worsening affordability crisis, the Democrat said that Republicans are focused on seeking billions of taxpayer dollars to fund “cruel mass deportations by ICE and a Trump ballroom.”
Rep. Wasserman Schultz was joined by Vannuchi Brothers Pizza owner Michael Reiter, LifeNet4Families employee and single mother Renae Cameron, and retiree and mother of a son with autism Elaine Terner.
“Americans struggle to afford food, gas, and healthcare, but Republicans ask taxpayers to pay $1 billion for a Trump ballroom,” said Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “With just the $210 billion that Republicans are gifting ICE and Border Patrol, we could extend the health care premium tax credits for at least 6 years, reverse the SNAP cuts from the Big Ugly Bill, fund a decade of free preschool for 4-year-olds, and fund the National School Lunch Program for a decade. We could fund Head Start for more than 15 years, we can restore the clean energy tax credits Republicans cut last year and expand rental and home buying assistance. That’s how you lower costs for South Florida families.”
When she last highlighted this problem, a gallon of regular unleaded in Florida was $4.16. Just a month later, that price surged to nearly $4.50 per gallon, an eight percent increase.
During the press conference, Rep. Wasserman Schultz expressed support for the Gas Price Relief Act, which would suspend the 18.4-cent federal gas tax whenever the national average price of gas exceeds $4 per gallon and fully offset the lost revenue by redirecting roughly $30 billion in existing federal oil and gas subsidies into the fund.
She also expressed support for the Lowering Utility Bills Act, which would bar transmission providers and for-profit utilities from requiring consumers to pay for private jet rides, lobbying, and contributions to politicians, and it sets a national standard for a reasonable ‘Return on Equity,’ to clamp down on for-profit utilities charging consumers unreasonable rates.
