Consumer Costs at Crisis Levels - Your Constituents Demand Tariff Relief Now

I urge you to take immediate action against tariff policies that are crushing American families with record-high consumer costs. Current tariff rates have reached their highest levels since 1909, while inflation sits at 2.9%, well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Food prices jumped 3.2% in the last year, with groceries costing families hundreds more each month. These policies function as a massive tax on consumers, and I demand you work to eliminate these destructive trade barriers immediately. Economic research confirms that American consumers bear nearly 100% of tariff costs, not foreign companies as promised. The average household now faces $1,300 to $4,900 in additional annual expenses from 2025 tariff policies alone (Yale Budget Lab, August 2025). Low-income families suffer most, paying three times more as a percentage of income compared to wealthy households. Coffee prices spiked 9.8% since April, egg prices face a projected 24.6% increase this year, and motor vehicles cost $4,500 to $6,500 more due to automotive tariffs. Working families cannot absorb these crushing cost increases while wages stagnate. Nearly half of retirees report spending significantly more on groceries in 2025 versus 2024, straining fixed incomes. Federal Reserve studies document that tariffs drive inflation higher, forcing the Fed to keep interest rates elevated and hurting homebuyers and small businesses. Multiple court rulings have declared current emergency tariffs illegal, yet they remain in effect, creating legal chaos alongside economic damage. Please support legislation to eliminate these failed tariff policies and restore affordable prices for American families. Vote against any trade measures that function as hidden taxes on consumers, and demand transparency about the true costs of trade wars. American families deserve economic policies that lower costs, not protectionist schemes that empty their wallets while enriching special interests.