URGENT ACTIONS TO LOWER ESSENTIAL USA COSTS

To the President, Congressional Leaders, and Relevant Agency Heads,

Americans need swift, targeted action to lower the prices of essentials. Headline consumer inflation re-accelerated to 4.2% year over year in May 2026, up from 3.8% in April, with energy costs a major driver and core inflation at 2.9%. These pressures compound years of rising prices for necessities. USAFacts NerdWallet Trading Economics

Affordability has fallen broadly. The Urban Institute’s American Affordability Tracker finds that about 49% of people in American families cannot afford the true cost of living in their communities. Since 2017, average earnings have risen roughly 43%, while home prices are up 81% and rents 54%. Residential electricity bills and gasoline costs have also outpaced earnings. These pressures are now widespread, extending beyond traditionally high-cost metros. Urban Institute

These facts point to a clear reality: millions of households cannot meet essential costs—housing, energy, transportation, food, health care, and child care—without cutting back on basics, taking on debt, or going without. Policy can and should move quickly to reduce near-term prices, while laying the groundwork for durable affordability.

Immediate actions to lower essential costs

1. Energy and transportation

• Temporarily reduce or rebate federal gas taxes, paired with anti-gouging oversight to ensure savings reach consumers at the pump. Consider targeted rebates for rural drivers and low-income commuters.
• Expand LIHEAP and accelerate utility-bill credits to cushion electricity and heating costs, with automatic enrollment where possible.
• Fast-track supply-side measures that add near-term capacity: unblock maintenance and bottlenecks in refining and power generation; accelerate grid interconnections for low-cost generation; and prioritize critical energy infrastructure repairs.

2. Food

• Increase and temporarily index SNAP benefits in high-inflation months; streamline WIC access and expand approved items to reduce out-of-pocket costs for families.
• Strengthen competition enforcement and transparency in major food supply chains and retail sectors to curb price markups not tied to costs.

3. Housing

• Provide immediate, time-limited emergency rent relief in high-spike regions and expand Housing Choice Vouchers with simplified intake.
• Incentivize rapid additions to supply: fund modular and adaptive reuse, unlock federal land for workforce housing under standardized approvals, and condition grants on local zoning reforms that allow more by-right, mid-density homes.
• Cap and standardize junk fees in rentals and mortgage origination to reduce all-in housing costs.

4. Health care and child care

• Enforce and expand caps on insulin and essential drug costs where authority allows; accelerate generic and biosimilar competition.
• Stabilize child care by boosting Child Care and Development Block Grant funding and offering immediate payroll support to prevent closures that push prices higher for working families.

5. Consumer protections and market competition

• Intensify investigations and penalties for price-fixing, bid-rigging, and deceptive junk fees across sectors with elevated markups.
• Require clear, all-in pricing in consumer markets (airlines, lodging, ticketing, broadband) so families can comparison-shop and pay less.

6. Income supports that target essentials without stoking inflation

• Deliver a temporary, means-tested Essential Costs Rebate tied to verified housing, energy, and transportation expenses, phasing out at higher incomes.
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit in a targeted, time-limited way, with monthly advance options to reduce reliance on high-cost credit.

Medium- and longer-term steps to lock in affordability

• Increase housing supply at scale through zoning reform, by-right approvals near jobs and transit, and predictable permitting timelines tied to federal transportation and infrastructure funding.
• Lower structural energy costs with grid modernization, faster interconnection queues, and diversified domestic supply chains for fuels, storage, and critical components.
• Strengthen competition policy and merger review in concentrated industries to prevent durable market power that sustains high prices.
• Improve productivity and workforce capacity in cost-driving service sectors (construction, health care, child care) via training, technology adoption, and streamlined licensing reciprocity across states.

Why urgency matters

• Inflation at 4.2% year over year, plus outsized increases in essentials, is eroding living standards now. USAFacts NerdWallet
• Nearly half of Americans in families cannot meet the true cost of living, and affordability challenges are spreading geographically. Urban Institute
• Targeted, time-limited relief focused on essentials—paired with supply improvements and competition enforcement—can reduce prices without reigniting broad inflation.

Measurable goals

• Reduce average household monthly essential expenses (housing+utilities+transportation+food) by a defined dollar target within six months, verified by BLS microdata and utility billing samples.
• Cut residential electricity bills relative to earnings by restoring 2019 bill-to-income ratios in affected regions.
• Increase new housing starts and permitting in reform-partner jurisdictions by at least 20% within 12 months.
• Document price pass-through from gas tax relief and junk-fee bans with public dashboards.

Americans cannot wait.

These are practical, evidence-based steps that the federal government can take now—many with bipartisan precedent—to bring down the cost of essentials quickly and build lasting affordability.

Respectfully,

The American People