Jared Bernstein: “President Trump’s policies, particularly his sweeping tariff policies, are worsening the affordability crisis working families are facing.”
Today, former White House Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors Jared Bernstein, New York State Senator James Skoufis, and former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the US Department of Labor Rajesh Nayak joined Defend America Action and Unrig Our Economy for a press call to discuss the economic impact of the Republican-led shutdown and the damage that Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have done to the American economy since assuming office.
In lieu of the regular Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report that’s not being released due to the government shutdown, Unrig Our Economy compiled a “People’s Jobs Report,” detailing how Trump and congressional Republicans have driven the job market and economy into the ground. The speakers highlighted how Trump and congressional Republicans’ tariffs, combined with their massive cuts to health care and food assistance, are making it impossible for working-class families to get ahead.
“President Trump’s policies, particularly his sweeping tariff policies, are worsening the affordability crisis working families are facing. Add on top of that the damage done to people’s health care access and the cost of health care coverage, and you get a sense that this administration is pushing hard in the wrong direction when it comes to affordability,” said Jared Bernstein, former White House Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. “Many people voted for Trump because he promised to lower prices – to lower the prices of groceries, health care, and other essentials. With his tariffs and with the policy changes in the Big, Ugly Bill, the administration is pushing hard in the other direction.”
“When you’re the party in power and a shutdown happens, you’re deciding who is being furloughed, who is going to work without pay, what programs are being frozen, what funding is being frozen or cut. This is the first president in the history of this country that is looking at which Americans we can hurt, which states we can hurt,” said James Skoufis, New York State Senator. “This ends when there’s a negotiation that occurs and we can have a real, substantive conversation about people’s health care and other issues. But until then, folks that I represent are hurting, and they’re predominantly blaming the party in power making these choices.”
“The headwinds facing workers today are due to a crisis of this administration’s own making, but today’s Department of Labor is actually making these challenges even worse for workers. Just before the Fourth of July, the Department announced it’s going to get rid of 63 rules that are already on the books,” said Rajesh Nayak, former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the US Department of Labor. “They’re just checking off items on a Big Business wish list, even if that means workers fall farther behind. The bottom line is the DOL record is clear: they’re rolling back more than five dozen protections and not one rule to make jobs safer, better paid, or more accessible for workers.”
BACKGROUND
Republicans rammed an unpopular, unaffordable tax break for the wealthiest people in the country through Congress, and they’re paying for it by raising costs, taking away health care, and slashing school lunches for working families.
- COSTS GOING UP WHILE BILLIONAIRE TAXES GO DOWN: House Democrats released a nonpartisan CBO analysis confirming Republicans’ plan will raise health care costs for working families and take away Medicaid from millions of people, all to pay for a massive tax break for the ultra-wealthy.
- THE GOP BUDGET WILL SLASH HEALTH CARE ACCESS FOR AMERICANS: House Republicans’ budget will kick an over 15 million Americans off health care in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires – even though less than 15 percent of voters support cuts to Medicaid.
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- This bill works to remove as many Medicaid recipients as possible under the guise of “work requirements.” In reality, virtually all Medicaid recipients work.
- Trump’s tax scam eliminates premium tax credits and hiking premiums for the 24 million Americans who buy insurance on their own through ACA Marketplaces, nearly doubling premiums on average for over 20 million Americans.
- Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) disproportionately serve children and young adults:
- Half of all Medicaid enrollees — 52 million young Americans — are under 26.
- Nearly 40 percent of ACA plan enrollees are under 34.
- Medicaid covers 41 percent of births in the United States, and around half of all births are to women under 30.
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- Children and young adults face the highest poverty rates of any age group.
- FOOD ASSISTANCE SLASHED: Republicans’ tax law amounts to the largest cuts to food assistance in history. Their law will also enact new unnecessary burdens for older Americans and families with children applying for basic needs programs, while freezing future benefit increases that help households adjust to rising food costs.
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