ICYMI: New Dems Hold Press Conference to Announce Affordability Agenda

Washington, D.C. – ICYMI: Today, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) joined New Democrat Coalition leaders in holding a press conference to announce the New Dem Affordability Agenda, a policy roadmap to help make life more affordable across the country by focusing on lowering five core costs for hardworking Americans: health care, housing, energy, family care, and household essentials like groceries.

New Dem Leadership Member Andrea Salinas (OR-06) joined New Democrat Coalition Chair Brad Schneider (IL-10), Vice Chair for Policy Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), and Economic Growth & Cost of Living Working Group Chair Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), as well as Freshman Leadership Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI-08) and New Dem Leadership Member Greg Stanton (AZ-04).

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Click here to view the full Affordability Agenda, and here to watch the Affordability Agenda Launch Video.

You can read a full transcript of the press conference remarks as prepared for delivery below:

Vice Chair for Policy Nikki Budzinski:

Thank you everyone. I'm Nikki Budzinski, Vice Chair of Policy for New Dems.

We know why we're here today – to share how we plan to address the single most important issue Americans face: affordability. 

Costs are simply too high. While the President has said affordability is a hoax, working families are lying awake at night, forced to make impossible choices. And let’s not forget, he promised on day one to lower prices. So where are we now?

Groceries cost nearly 20% more than they did in January 2022. Utility costs are adding to that pressure, with electricity prices up nearly 7% last year and natural gas posting double-digit gains.

And then there’s housing. The National Association of Homebuilders found that home prices were 55% higher in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2020. And to make matters worse, House Republicans are missing in action. When grocery prices are higher than ever, they’re cutting SNAP. When healthcare costs continue to rise, they’re refusing to extend ACA tax credits and gutting Medicaid. 

There's a vacuum – a vacuum of urgency to fight for working people, to advance real solutions to bring down costs. And New Dems are ready to fill it.

Over the past year, we've been listening and building – releasing frameworks on health care, housing affordability, and tax policy, and taking New Dems on the Road. 

Because if we're going to solve these problems, we need to be in our communities, listening to folks confronting them each and every day – at the grocery store, paying the electricity bill, sitting in the doctor's office.

Our agenda has five pillars, focused on the five biggest pressures on people's wallets.

You'll hear shortly from Representative Houlahan, who leads our Economic Growth and Cost of Living Working Group. Within that group, Representative Horsford focused on taxes, Representative McBride on the care economy, and Representative Beyer on trade and tariffs. I'd also like to recognize Health Care Working Group Chair Terri Sewell, Housing Task Force Chair Emilia Sykes, Environment, Climate, and Clean Energy Working Group Chair Scott Peters, and Rural Revitalization Working Group Chair Kim Schrier.

Each of these members brought their expertise and lived experience to shape this agenda.

So here's what we're going to do. We'll lower grocery prices by taking on tariff policies that drive up costs and supporting more competition in the grocery industry. We'll cut red tape and modernize permitting to build four million new homes over the next decade. We'll finally create a national paid family and medical leave program. On health care, we won't just extend ACA tax credits – we'll protect patients from surprise medical bills and stop aggressive medical debt collection. 

These are common-sense steps that deliver real relief for Americans. But they're not just common sense – they're bold. And that's exactly what we need right now. It's what the American people are asking for. Not the status quo. Not just getting by. But the American Dream. And I'm confident this agenda can bring that dream within reach for millions of Americans.

Now I'd like to introduce Representative Houlahan, our Economic Growth and Cost of Living Working Group Chair, to dive into the specifics.

Thank you.

Working Group Chair Chrissy Houlahan:

Thank you, Rep. Budzinski, and good morning to you all. 

I’m proud to stand here with my New Dem colleagues to roll out our Affordability Agenda — because affordability isn’t an abstract economic concept. It’s the daily stress families feel when they’re forced to make impossible choices: whether to pay the rent or the medical bill, whether to skip a prescription, whether to put groceries on one credit card and car payments on another, hoping we can catch up later. 

Well, hope is not a strategy. 

Despite all the promises to lower prices “on day one” and “end inflation,” President Trump and his Administration are doing nothing to address the real affordability crises people are living through. Instead, they have doubled down on policies that protect monopolies, reward the wealthiest, and actively drive up costs for everyone else. 

New Dems believe that failure is unacceptable — and unnecessary. 

As Chair of the New Dem Economic Growth and Cost of Living Working Group, I’m proud to introduce a strategic agenda that takes on the real drivers of high costs — not with slogans or distractions, but with solutions. 

Our Affordability Agenda focuses on lowering the five biggest costs families face: health care, housing, energy, family care, and everyday essentials like groceries. 

This agenda is grounded in a simple idea: affordability is about dignity — and government should help markets work better for people, not rig them for the powerful. 

Here’s what that looks like: 

On groceries and household essentials, while Republicans double down on Trump’s tariff policies that raise prices for consumers, New Dems are focused on rolling those costs back, restoring trade certainty, promoting competition, and supporting small producers — so families aren’t paying more just because corporations face less oversight. 

On health care, instead of cutting Medicaid and undermining the ACA, we can lower monthly costs by extending ACA tax credits, capping prescription drug prices, protecting patients from surprise bills, and stopping aggressive medical debt collection — because illness shouldn’t mean financial ruin. 

On housing, Republicans talk about affordability while blocking supply. New Dems are serious about building — cutting red tape, modernizing permitting and zoning, and constructing four million new homes over the next decade so working families can actually afford to live where opportunity exists. 

On energy, rather than creating uncertainty and bottlenecks or cancelling critical energy production because “windmills are ugly,” we will lower costs by building more capacity — faster — across the board. That means permitting reform, a stronger grid, energy abundance, and efficiency investments that reduce utility bills for families. 

And for families, affordability means time and security. That’s why we’re advancing a national paid family and medical leave program, expanding access to child care and pre-K, and strengthening the care workforce — instead of forcing families to choose between a paycheck and caring for a loved one.  

This agenda reflects who New Dems are and how we approach the challenges facing this country: pragmatic, pro-growth, and focused on solutions that can pass and make a real difference. 

Affordability is a promise we owe the American people — and with this agenda, we’re committed to keeping it.  

Thank you. And now I’ll turn it over to Rep. Schneider.

Chair Brad Schneider:

Thank you all for being here today. I’m Brad Schneider, Chair of the 115-member strong New Democrat Coalition in the 119th Congress. 

As I like to say, New Dems are not just the Majority Makers, our members make up a majority of the Democratic caucus.

 I’d like to personally thank our Policy Vice Chair Nikki Budzinski and Economic Growth & Cost of Living Working Group Chair Chrissy Houlahan for their leadership on this issue, and for being the driving forces behind forming the pragmatic, short- and long-term affordability solutions in our plan. This plan could not come at a more important moment.

Over the past year, life has only gotten more expensive for the American people, the American dream is further out of reach, and for many people out of sight. Meanwhile, the President and Congressional Republicans have not only failed to lower costs — at every turn, they’ve made it worse.

The American people are tired of broken promises. They want a real plan with real solutions.

That's why I’m incredibly proud of our New Dem Affordability Agenda. It truly represents the best ideas from our 115 Members to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and start to really make life more affordable for everyday Americans. 

Beside Reps. Budzinski and Houlahan, I’d like to thank our Working Group Leaders, Task Force Chairs, and Members of New Dem Leadership, including Representatives Sarah McBride, Kristen McDonald Rivet, Greg Stanton, Andrea Salinas, who are here with us today, as well as Representatives Don Beyer, Steven Horsford, Terri Sewell, Emilia Sykes, and Scott Peters.

This Agenda is the culmination of all our collective efforts, and the embodiment of what the New Dems stand for. You see, to the New Dems, “affordability” isn’t a buzzword, or the “issue of the month.”

We believe affordability and lowering costs are an essential part of the American dream. Affordability means not just getting by, but getting ahead. Building a better future for yourself, your family, and your community.

New Dems have always fought for economic growth and empowerment, putting working Americans at the center of everything we do.

While the President jerks from one ill-conceived policy scheme to the next, all to try to deflect from the harm being inflicted on working families, New Dems are doing what we always do: putting forward well thought out, pragmatic policies that will actually lower costs, and working with anyone and everyone in Congress to improve the lives of hardworking Americans.

Not only will this Affordability Agenda guide our work through the rest of this year, but be the foundation of our efforts in the majority, after we take back the House this fall.