Senator Mayfield: “The Trump economic agenda is really just taking an enormous toll on the people in my district and in my region.”
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, ahead of Donald Trump’s appearance in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, State Senators Julie Mayfield and Natalie S. Murdock, State Representative Marcia Morey, former Special Assistant to President Biden for Health Care Jessica Schubel, and local health care advocate Stacy Staggs joined Defend America Action to discuss Trump’s affordability crisis and its consequences for North Carolinians. The speakers highlighted how, as a result of Trump’s failed policies and broken promises, costs are skyrocketing for everybody in the state, from families to small business owners.
Today, Defend America Action released a new fact sheet on how Trump’s anemic economy is hitting the poorest North Carolinians the hardest. His tariff-driven inflation is sending food prices, energy prices, and housing costs soaring, and next year, just under 900,000 people across the state will see their health care costs spike after Trump and Republicans rip away tax credits that make coverage affordable.
“It is such a stark contrast between a leader like Jim Hunt, who genuinely cared for people and spent his life trying to make people’s lives better, and the person that we have in the White House right now, and the team that he has around him that is actively trying to make people’s lives harder,” said Senator Julie Mayfield. “The Trump economic agenda is really just taking an enormous toll on the people in my district and in my region.”
“Donald Trump ran on the mantra of making America great again, and he’s making America worse,” said Senator Natalie S. Murdock. “And it really does all come down to affordability, of folks having a difficult time trying to purchase and own a home with rising energy costs. This isn’t optional. You have to heat your home. We need more folks in DC that will stick up to this President and not make it easier for him to continue to have our country go in the wrong direction.”
“We had Governor Cooper, who’s now up on the ballot, raising up the everyday person, working for economic justice, working for our strong public school system, working to have Medicaid and affordable health care,” said Representative Marcia Morey. “And today, we have a president basically invading our state, coming to Rocky Mount to spread lies. He’s selling a bill of goods that only helps his billionaire friends.”
“The last week or so has been a roller coaster for the over 20 million people who buy health insurance off of the ACA marketplace, and I’m personally one of the 20 million people, and I can tell you, it hasn’t been a pleasant ride,” Jessica Schubel, former Special Assistant to President Biden for Health Care. “President Trump and congressional Republicans are doing everything they can to make it as hard as possible for working Americans to get health care.”
“People have life events, accidents, trauma, and they’re going to go to the hospital and find that a bed is not available to them, specifically in the rural areas where that’s already hanging by a thread,” said Stacy Staggs, North Carolinian Health Care Advocate. “That’s a choice that [Republicans are] excitedly making. They’re gleeful about the harm that they’re causing. And we don’t have to guess how this is going to go. I’m just bracing for what that’ll mean for my family.”
A recording of the press call is available here and Defend America Action’s fact sheet is available here.
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