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Cleanup On Aisle Keystone: As White House Dispatches JD Vance to Clean Up Trump’s Pennsylvania Mess, Costs Skyrocket for Working Families

By December 16, 2025No Comments

Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania event last week was such a colossal failure that the White House is desperately sending JD Vance back to do damage control. Well, if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. Vance is just going to peddle the same anti-family policies that are already funneling billions of dollars to big corporations and the ultra-wealthy while the rest of us pick up the tab. Those policies are sending food prices, energy prices, health care costs, and housing costs soaring, and hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents are facing an average health care premium increase of more than 100% next year.

 

Fact Sheet

 

  • PENNSYLVANIANS KNOW TRUMP IS RAISING COSTS: A majority of Pennsylvanians believe that Trump is handling rising costs poorly, and only 16 percent said they are better off financially than a year ago.

  • COST OF GROCERIES IS UP: Grocery prices increased month-over-month this summer at the fastest pace in three years thanks to Donald Trump’s tariffs and America-last trade policies, leading some Pennsylvania consumers to redefine their staples.

  • TRUMP TARIFFS ARE KILLING KEYSTONE STATE INDUSTRIES: In the first half of the year alone, Pennsylvania faced a tariff impact of $1.6 billion. Pennsylvania farmers are facing financial ruin as a result of Trump’s tariffs. Local soybean farmers are hitting rock bottom in the face of Trump’s tariffs on China, a major soybean importer.

  • PA HEALTH CARE COSTS ARE UP THANKS TO TRUMP & REPUBLICANS: Nearly 500,000 people across the commonwealth will see their monthly health care costs skyrocket 102% for next year after the Trump-GOP budget ripped away critical tax credits that make ACA coverage affordable.

    • LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES LOSE HEALTH CARE: 101,000 small business owners and 63,000 self-employed workers in the commonwealth rely on the ACA for coverage – nearly one-third of the total ACA enrollees in Pennsylvania. 87% of small business owners reportedly want Congress to permanently extend ACA tax credits.

  • PA ENERGY COSTS ARE UP AS TRUMP CANCELS ENERGY INVESTMENTS: Households across the commonwealth could see their utility bills spike by an average of $170 a month as winter approaches. Some of Pennsylvania’s largest utility providers, serving millions of customers across the commonwealth, have raised rates between 3.7% and 6% this year alone. Meanwhile, Trump and Republicans are cancelling hundreds of millions of dollars in Pennsylvania clean energy investments.

  • TRUMP’S ECONOMY: THOUSANDS OF LOST JOBS: 24,000 additional Pennsylvanians are newly unemployed this year, and unemployment continues to rise. Thousands have lost their jobs in industries ranging from health care to auto manufacturing thanks to Donald Trump’s destructive economic policies and devastating attacks on the federal workforce:

    • Lehigh Valley Health Network cut between 600 and 700 jobs.

    • The Cleveland Cliffs plant in Steelton, PA, announced its closure after laying off 559 workers earlier this year.

    • 332 Corsa Coal mine employees in Somerset County lost their jobs after the company filed for bankruptcy in March.

    • Volvo announced hundreds of layoffs in Macungie, Pennsylvania, directly citing tariff challenges.

    • The University of Pennsylvania Health System cut 300 jobs.

    • Philips Respironics cut 196 jobs in Western Pennsylvania.

    • Prysmian Cables and Systems announced the closure of a Schuylkill County facility, impacting 150 workers.

    • The Snyder of Berlin headquarters, located in Somerset County, will be ceasing operations by the end of 2026, laying off “the majority of the 96-person staff.”

  • PA HOUSING CRUNCH: Trump’s disastrous tariffs and immigration policies are killing homebuilding in Pennsylvania, exacerbating a housing affordability crisis as more Philadelphia renters become cost-burdened by rising rents and Philadelphia buyers face high pricing pressure.

  • HELP RIPPED AWAY FROM PENNSYLVANIA FAMILIES: Trump’s budget cuts are ripping away vital assistance for health care, food, and home heating from hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians.

    • The Trump-GOP Big, Ugly Bill cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, and will strip health care coverage from 300,000 Pennsylvanians.

    • Trump and Republicans in Congress cut $187 billion in food assistance, which could kick at least 143,000 Pennsylvanians off food assistance.

    • The GOP government shutdown delayed the start of the LIHEAP program, which could leave more than 300,000 Pennsylvania households at risk of having their power or heat cut off during the coldest months of the year.

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