[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H5910-H5911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             AFFORDABILITY

  (Ms. Kaptur of Ohio was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, let's talk about a topic of vital 
importance: the rising cost of living in America and the rising 
unemployment rates. Mr. Speaker, 700,000, more workers got pink-
slipped.
  Throughout the last year, the President of the free world made 
numerous golden promises that prices would come down under a Trump 
administration. Unfortunately, to date, that promise hasn't been kept.
  Everywhere I go in my district, from Bryan to Defiance, from Sandusky 
to Toledo, I hear the same plea over and over: Life isn't affordable, 
and it is getting worse, Marcy.
  My constituents in northwestern Ohio are struggling to afford the 
cost of their groceries at the checkout counter. They are struggling to 
afford their cost of rent, of buying a home, and property taxes are on 
the rise.
  In Ohio health insurance costs, too, are set to skyrocket for over 
500,000 families due to inaction to extend the Affordable Care Act tax 
credits.

[[Page H5911]]

  This July, households in Ohio saw their monthly energy bills increase 
a minimum of 10 percent. Some more than doubled with AI data centers 
competing for land. Congress must help local communities develop plans 
to prevent rising bills for energy and water.
  Our constituents in Whitehouse told me that her family already saw 
their energy bill go from $230 a month to $494 in July.
  How can any family afford that?
  In my part of the country, the Great Lakes, our region's economy is 
intertwined with our neighbors to the north, Canada, our largest 
trading partner. If our Great Lakes nation were a country, we would be 
the third largest economy in the world.
  Why is this administration and Congress hurting us?
  Punitive tariffs have sent our regional economy spiraling. The cost 
of lumber is up. The cost of cars is up. The cost of steel is up, and 
the cost of potash is up. The cost of almost everything is up.
  This hurts not only our consumers but also our workers who make 
Toledo Jeeps or parts for other American automakers like General Motors 
and Ford. Thousands of autoworkers have been laid off.
  Tariffs also really hurt our farmers in the field. They have lost 
major share of markets in corn and soy abroad because of reckless trade 
wars. Higher input costs cripple the ability to farm the same fields 
their families have farmed for generations.

  Cattlemen in our region are struggling to feed their herds and also 
get their beef to market affordably at the same time that President 
Trump gave $40 billion--handed over $40 billion--in American taxpayer 
money to Argentina whose farmers are trying to undercut the very 
cattlemen I represent.
  One farmer called my office yesterday. He made $100,000 less this 
year because of tariffs and rising input costs because of tariffs.
  He said: Luckily, Marcy, we saved some money from the Biden years, 
but our income has been very, very difficult to meet rising costs. We 
make some money from ethanol and biodiesel. Keep up the work on that, 
Marcy, he said.
  Mr. Speaker, tens of thousands of people across northwestern Ohio, 
500,000 Ohioans in total, and 15 million more nationwide are at risk of 
losing their health insurance, being priced out of the market.
  A constituent from Clyde, Ohio, said: Marcy, high insurance prices 
will allow people to die by making health insurance unaffordable. It 
was terrible for our family before the ACA. We will band together to 
try to help feed our neighbors, but we aren't doctors. We need 
affordable healthcare.
  A Toledo resident told me their family cannot afford another crushing 
expense. He said: ``Groceries cost more than twice what they did a few 
years ago. Childcare and rent are up for us more than ever. Now, unless 
Congress acts, our health insurance premiums could double. For a family 
like mine, that means an extra $100 per person, per month. It is money 
we simply don't have. Please, extend the ACA enhanced premium tax 
credits and protect working families. We need relief, not higher 
costs.''
  These pleas aren't aberrations. They come every day. They are the 
norm. Wherever I go, I hear someone suffering under rising costs.
  Our neighbors are struggling to afford their groceries as States 
nationwide are trying to cut SNAP dollars for those who need them and 
limit what they can buy.
  Meanwhile, food costs across the board are up 3.1 percent. Beef and 
veal are up 14.7 percent as of the end of September. A pound of beef 
costs $6.23 or more. It is simply just unaffordable. That number 
continues to climb.
  For the last year, there has been no action by the majority in this 
Chamber, by the White House, or anyone else in power to address the 
affordability crisis.
  Hello? Hello?
  Reckless and ill-considered tariffs have made it worse. Let me assure 
you, Mr. Speaker, people in northwest Ohio are paying attention and 
deciding how to live. We need this Congress and the President, the 
other end of this avenue, to work together.

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