President Trump Should Commit to Actually Lowering Costs for Hardworking Families | Opinion

When running for office, President Donald Trump promised to help working-class Americans—people like those I represent in Kansas' Third District. I share that goal and have worked across the aisle to lower costs for families. That includes reducing the cost of prescription drugs, making groceries and gas more affordable, and rebuilding roads and bridges while creating good-paying jobs.

But the president's recent executive orders have moved us further from that shared goal. These actions don't lower costs for hardworking Americans. In fact, many of them will raise costs for families while benefiting special interests and large corporations.

Kansans deserve better. That's why I'm calling attention to these shortcomings and laying out a path forward toward bipartisan progress that genuinely supports everyday Americans.

Consider the decision to eliminate the $2 cap on generic drugs for seniors on Medicare. For years, Kansans have called for relief at the pharmacy counter, and we finally delivered by empowering Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices—saving 74,000 Kansans up to 79 percent on their medications. Yet, rather than building on this progress, these recent actions will leave many paying more for the life-saving prescriptions they depend on.

It's not just health care. These actions are also harming the clean energy sector—a vital and rapidly growing industry for Kansas' economy. In my district, Panasonic is building a new electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing plant, set to create 20,000 total jobs. Yet, these executive orders jeopardize those jobs and threaten to push the United States even further behind our global competitors in the EV market.

And the damage doesn't stop there. While the government can and should work more efficiently, proponents of the new efficiency office—established through an executive order and overseen by the world's wealthiest man—have openly admitted they plan to slash Social Security and Medicare. Let me be clear—Kansans have paid into these programs their entire lives. Cutting them isn't just cruel; it's a betrayal of the people who rely on them.

These actions also leave Kansas' 18,000 federal employees vulnerable to termination not for poor performance but simply due to political whims. These hardworking public servants shouldn't have to worry about their livelihoods being subject to partisan politics.

None of this helps Kansans who are struggling with rising costs at the gas pump and grocery store. Instead, these orders benefit special interests and corporate profits at the expense of hardworking families. By rolling back tax reforms that ensured corporations paid their fair share, large profitable companies may now pay little to no taxes, leaving everyday families to shoulder the burden.

These actions—along with others freezing promised federal investments that communities rely on, blocking wind energy and its cost savings in Kansas, and imposing planned tariffs that could cost families $4,000 a year—reveal a troubling pattern. They underscore a willingness to stoke fear, serve partisan interests, and undermine the progress we've made to lower costs for families.

But we can do better.