ICYMI: Rep. McDonald Rivet, New Democrat Coalition Unveil Policy Agenda To Make Life More Affordable
WASHINGTON— In case you missed it, the New Democrat Coalition — in which Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI-08) serves as Freshman Leadership Representative — unveiled their Affordability Agenda, a robust policy roadmap to help make life more affordable for hardworking Americans by focusing on lowering five core costs: household essentials like groceries, health care, housing, child care, and energy.
“For far too long, Michigan families have been crushed by rising costs and stagnant wages. I came to Congress ready to fix it, but for the past year, MAGA’s reckless policies have made things much worse — tariffs are making everything more expensive, and the Big Beautiful Bill ripped health care and food away from working families to give tax breaks to the wealthy and well-connected. All the while, working people are hurting and demanding action,” said Congresswoman McDonald Rivet, Freshman Leadership Representative of the New Democrat Coalition. “Our Affordability Agenda is a set of ready-to-go solutions to take on special interests and bring down costs — ideas like stopping Wall Street from buying up homes and farms, cutting taxes for working parents instead of billionaires, and letting Medicare negotiate drug prices to keep your medicine costs down. It’s time to stop with the chaos and get real stuff done for people who are working way too hard and still struggling to get by.”
Below are interviews she did highlighting their plans to lower costs for hard-working families:
WJRT (Flint, MI) [WATCH HERE]: McDonald Rivet joins congressional coalition for affordability agenda
WNEM (Saginaw, MI) [WATCH HERE]: New policy agenda aims to cut costs for Americans
Below are some of the provisions of the Affordability Agenda that would be most impactful for Michigan families and seniors:
To lower the cost of groceries and household essentials: roll back tariffs, reverse harmful cuts to federal nutrition programs, provide flexibility in federal lending and subsidy programs for small- and mid-size farmers, increase the minimum wage, and protect workers’ rights.
To lower the cost of health care: extend the Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits, extend Medicare’s prescription drug out-of-pocket cap and its $35 monthly insulin cap to individuals with private insurance, and leverage Medicare’s buying power to negotiate lower prices on more drugs.
To lower the cost of housing: eliminate unfair tax breaks for private equity and large investors that give them a competitive advantage over families in the housing market.
To lower the cost of child care and support working families: create a national paid family and medical leave program, expand access to the Child Tax Credit and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, expand access to the Dependent Care Assistance Program, and explore cost-sharing partnerships to lower monthly child care expenses and strengthen workforce participation.
To lower energy bills: defend clean energy investments that create jobs and lower energy bills, reform permitting rules, invest in biofuels, and protect consumers from bearing the costs of manufacturing and data center development.
The New Democrat Coalition is a group of more than 100 middle-of-the-road Democrats in the 119th Congress, committed to working with members of both parties to deliver commonsense solutions. Congresswoman McDonald Rivet was elected by her peers to serve as the Freshman Leadership Representative to the New Democrat Coalition.
The full Affordability Agenda can be found here.