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unrig our economy
Game Changers: How to Build the Economy We Deserve
What's needed are bold yet realistic policies that break cleanly from the corruption of the Trump years and the free-market fundamentalist era that preceded them. Righting the rules means an end to game-rigging by ruling elites and instead crafting rules that first and foremost protect the well-being of working people.
Sep 15, 2026
Editor's Note: The following is part of new series for Common Dreams based on "Game Changers: Economic Policies for a Working America," a project spearheaded by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Game Changers is a collaborative initiative bringing together leading economists and policy experts to develop bold, new ideas to build a stronger, fairer, greener, and more inclusive economy for all Americans. Through dozens of policy briefs, supporting research papers, and online webinars, the project offers solutions designed to help working people thrive while preparing the country for the economic challenges ahead. ""People are looking for solutions that improve their daily lives—not just marginal changes around the edges," says economist Juliet Schor. "Our proposals make housing, care, and daily life more affordable."
The Economy We Deserve
When a system reaches the point of breakdown, it’s time for radical change. That was the lesson of the 1930s, when the Great Depression ignited transformative labor and social movements that reset national priorities. It was also the negative lesson of the 1980s, when elites responded to stagflation with a neoliberal turn to “free markets” and enhanced corporate power. The resulting intensification of income and wealth inequality has enabled state capture by a white supremacist authoritarian movement in alliance with tech and fossil fuel interests.
The antidote is increasingly clear: recognizing the equal dignity of every human being and working to guarantee their right to economic security, the opportunity to thrive, a livable planet, a world free of racism, and democratic governance of our lives, societies, and economies. Large majorities of the public understand that the current system is failing most of us and threatening democracy itself. They’re ready to begin building an economy that we deserve.
It’s time to “right the rules” to create an economy that meets individuals’ basic needs for food, shelter, care, education, health, and free time.
Social change, and especially major economic transformation, requires a compelling positive vision of the possible. The Game Changers project was formed to provide that vision. Rooted in new economic thinking and research to address the multiple dysfunctions of the current system, it offers far-reaching ideas that go beyond the failed policies of the past, both neoliberal and liberal, and the corrupt authoritarian practices of the present.
It’s time to “right the rules” to create an economy that meets individuals’ basic needs for food, shelter, care, education, health, and free time. We envision that happening in multiple ways: local public provisioning for health, child and long-term care; federal income supports; access to work with good wages and reasonable hours; raising wages at the bottom and the middle to address longstanding racial and other inequalities; and sensible and compassionate immigration policies. We lay out plans for new public infrastructures such as high-quality mixed-income public housing with renewable energy systems and a low-cost, efficient public payments system. We need to detoxify the natural environment, restore ecosystems, and stabilize the climate system.
Investments in individuals, communities, nations and the planet are key to prosperity. But we need more than that. Changing the game implies that the game is rigged. We offer policies that help working people build power, through collective organizations, in the workplace and the state. These organizing strategies address racial and other divisions that weaken communities. They’ll help redress the asymmetries of influence that plague this moment.
A new game also requires fundamental transformation of large-scale economic structures, such as the financial architecture, the international trading system, and the functioning of the macroeconomy. Our policies do that through breaking up concentrated power, penalizing rent-seeking, stabilizing the financial system, and forcing corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. These measures help fund the investments in people and planet that are required for a decent economy.
Game Changers: The Economy We Deserve
One throughline among the wide range of proposals we have developed is that they are based on strong economic research and reasoning, but they reject the economic story that has dominated policymaking. Conventional economic thinking has been shown to be misguided in area after area. Minimum wages don’t cause unemployment; rent control doesn’t reduce housing supply; and equality and efficiency are not opposed. Climate action is cheaper than inaction, worktime reduction and higher productivity go together, and investments in social goods can pay for themselves.
The economic logic of our approach is based on game theory, as well as common sense. Zero-sum, competitive games like the one the economy has been stuck in yield much worse outcomes than cooperative games. When we join together in communities, labor unions, civic associations, and business enterprises, outcomes are far better. This recognition is the basis of a powerful new economic paradigm: invest in each other, secure the future, and realize the promise of multi-racial democracy throughout society. It’s time to change the game.
Anatomy of the Crisis
The roots of our current predicament can be situated in the early 1970s, when the economic damage wrought by an earlier wrong-headed foreign adventure—the Vietnam War—coincided with an increase in oil prices resulting from conflict in the Middle East. The resulting economic crisis of inflation and recession brought to a head longstanding political, social and economic struggles. Workers mobilized and built power through militant trade union activities; African Americans gained voice and political influence via the Civil Rights movement; the women’s movement demanded equal treatment. These developments coincided with declining competitiveness of US business and a profit squeeze. Panic arose within the American business class as they feared they were losing control.
All the proposals share the goal of helping to build a positive-sum economy that works for all, rather than a zero-sum economy where the greed of the one percent trumps the well-being of the ninety-nine percent.
An additional factor was increased environmental awareness. The first Earth Day in 1970 attracted 20 million, the largest protest action in US history. Existential panic was especially present in the fossil fuel industries of oil, gas and coal. Fossil fuel interests, including Exxon and the Kochs, fought back, investing millions to capture politicians and state institutions. They joined with other business interests to support representatives of both parties who would break unions and negotiate trade agreements that undermined the power of US workers. They de-regulated banks and other financial institutions to allow them to grow bigger, more profitable and, as we were to discover in 2007 and 2008, more dangerous to our economy and livelihoods.
In wave after wave, the state cut taxes for the rich and reduced government resources for investing in and supporting people and communities. The capture of politics and politicians by big capital directed even more money to the military industrial complex. The economic vision associated with neoliberalism was summed up most up memorably by Ronald Reagan in his First Inaugural Address: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
By the 2000s, this neoliberal approach had been adopted by a significant portion of the economics profession, and “laissez-faire” became the baseline and even touchstone for economic policy. But in reality, the push for laissez-fare was a cover for state policy that boosted the rich at the expense of everyone else. This helps to explain how policy could evolve in just a few decades from the neoliberalism of Reagan to the authoritarian corruption of the Trump administration and its allies.
State capture has ensured that neither the economy nor the government works for most Americans. Naturally, and perhaps by design, this has led to general mistrust and even disdain by many Americans for the federal government, though there is less skepticism of state and local government. As a result, the potential for the public sector to act as a countervailing force against the power of big business is further undermined by angry and discouraged voters.
This top-heavy economic and political system is populated by corporations too often driven by short-term profit-seeking rather than long-term investments, and by a government that invests too little in people and communities and too much in fossil fuel interests and the military-industrial complex. The average worker’s standard of living has stagnated for decades despite large increases in productivity. Affordability may be a buzzword. It is also a pressing day-to-day issue for most American families.
The rise of billionaires and even one trillionaire, along with the enormous power of tech and fossil fuel capitalists in the Trump Administration, is in some ways the natural extension of this decades-long pattern. But we are also experiencing unprecedented perversions and pathologies, as reflected in the vast corruption exhibited by the Trump family and friends and the hyper-inequality of society, with a handful of billionaires striding over millions of Americans barely able to make ends meet. And now fossil fuel interests are redacting “climate change” from government’s—and possibly even society’s—to-do list.
It is long past time to break this destructive cycle and usher in a new economic structure, and a new paradigm to support it.
Changing the Game
The Game Changers are examples of bold yet realistic policies that break cleanly from the corruption of the Trump years and the free-market fundamentalist era that preceded them. The policies address how both markets and government work, based on the premise that the role of government is not merely to clean up after the messes when markets fail, but to ensure that markets work consistently on behalf of working people rather than being rigged against them.
Game Changer policies span a broad canvas of economic issues—health care, housing, immigration, care work, labor, the environment, trade, and finance. All the proposals share the goal of helping to build a positive-sum economy that works for all, rather than a zero-sum economy where the greed of the one percent trumps the well-being of the ninety-nine percent. They are based on a simple set of propositions.
- Changing the game means investing in each other.
Childcare, health care, and a clean and safe environment are not commodities to be sold to those with the most purchasing power, nor are they privileges to be granted to those with the most political power. These are universal rights that should be shared by all.
Something is deeply wrong with an economy where people who play by the rules must struggle to get by, while the wealthy flaunt their power with impunity.
Investing in each other means strengthening personal connections by making sure that working people have time and energy to invest in their families and communities. It means uniting with those by our side who are striving for a better life. It means spurning attempts to pit us against each other—white against non-white, native-born against recent immigrant, worker against worker—to divert attention from the abuses perpetrated by those on top.
In short, investing in each other means building an economy in which everyone is free to survive, strive, and thrive.
- Changing the game means securing our future.
Economic security should not be a privilege for the few. A secure economy must be resilient enough to safeguard present as well as future generations from workplace abuses, environmental destruction, and supply-chain fragility.
Securing our future means recognizing that there are things that all should be able to afford, like housing, education and care. It means recognizing that there are things we cannot afford, like the poisoning of our air and water and lavish tax breaks and handouts for the rich. And it means building an economy in which the lives of working people are not subjected to catastrophic disruptions that result from concentrated wealth and power in the hands of people who do not care.
Securing our future also means forging solidarity with others across the world with whom we share not only the same planet, but also the same struggle against transnational elites who seek to divide nations and peoples to pursue ever more wealth and power for themselves.
- Changing the game means righting the rules.
Today the rules for how markets and governments work are rigged in favor of the wealthy and powerful. Something is deeply wrong with an economy where people who play by the rules must struggle to get by, while the wealthy flaunt their power with impunity.
Righting the rules means ending reckless and predatory financial practices that siphon wealth from working families into the hands of speculators and banksters. It means reorienting housing markets to provide affordable homes for all rather than to maximize profits for real-estate barons. And it means ending the tragic squandering of lives and wealth to shore up a military-industrial complex that offers empty promises of national security even as it undermines the security of families and communities by engaging in immoral and unnecessary wars.
Righting the rules means an end to game-rigging by ruling elites and instead crafting rules that first and foremost protect the well-being of working people.
The call for changing the rules highlights a key aspect of our approach. Many of the Game Changer policies involve redesigning how the market works rather than calling for major new public spending. They transform market outcomes, thereby reducing the need for post-market redistributions to achieve more fairness. And in calling for more public spending in some areas, we also propose new revenue sources and fiscal priorities to improve the functioning of the economy, as detailed in the Game Changer on funding the future.
Getting from Here to There
To animate the changes we are proposing, we need to restore people’s faith that change is possible. We’ve noted the existence of pervasive cynicism and disillusionment with government. In an age of state capture, when government has so frequently failed workers, communities of color, rural families, and distressed geographies, these feelings are warranted. Part of the difficulty of defending democracy against the current authoritarian threats is that the system has empowered elites while disempowering and discouraging working people.
As we’ve argued, changing the game requires far-reaching policies that offer improvements and are based on strong economic analysis. That’s a given. Overcoming cynicism and disillusionment requires something else as well: people’s actual lived experience fighting for and winning change. By being part of a truly democratic movement, and achieving victories, it’s possible to rebuild trust in government, businesses, and each other.
We must reject the false tensions between collective strategies and individual dreams, between worker welfare and business health, between climate caution and economic prosperity.
A transformative agenda won’t be enacted in one stroke. It may start with smaller victories and incremental steps. Each successful campaign engages people who can then be part of the next, bigger effort. Or perhaps we notch an early win with a big, bold Game Changer. That can be followed by smaller steps to make sure it’s implemented fairly and successfully. Social and economic restructuring will come in the form of changes, big and small. And with each positive step, trust in government—and each other—increases.
We are optimistic about the possibilities for deep transformation. Our reasoning is based on the episodes we began with—the paradigm-shifting moments in which new economic models arise and stick. While such shifts can be connected to intellectual trends, they are often more rooted in social conditions and political coalitions: New Deal thinking and labor mobilization in the context of the Great Depression, or neoliberal economics and business opportunism in the context of the stagflation of the 1970s and early 1980s.
In this moment of crisis, we need both new perspectives and new coalitions. We must reject the false tensions between collective strategies and individual dreams, between worker welfare and business health, between climate caution and economic prosperity. We must build a broad movement that includes workers, communities of color, small businesses, professionals concerned about AI, community leaders sickened by division, and anyone and everyone who knows that democracy cannot stand when oligarchy thrives.
The traditional American motto, “out of many, one” is often used to refer to the power of our diversity. Forging a broad and unified force for a better future will be key for the many—movement builders, unionists, community organizers, civic leaders, and all who stand with them—to triumph against the one percent. A transformative policy package, like the Game Changers, is one part of the coalition-building needed for the future we deserve.
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GOP Showered Big Corporations With Tax Breaks. They Returned the Favor With Campaign Cash
"Republicans in Congress sold out many of their own constituents to help corporations get even richer," said the campaign director of Unrig Our Economy.
Jul 03, 2026
Major American corporations that benefited from tax cuts enacted last year by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are donating to the campaigns of GOP lawmakers who made the windfall possible.
A report published Friday by Unrig Our Economy spotlights seven House Republicans who voted for the sprawling and unpopular GOP budget package, which extended tax breaks for corporations and wealthy Americans while inflicting unprecedented cuts on Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance—with disastrous consequences for millions of low-income families across the country.
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), one of the lawmakers featured in the new report, has received campaign donations from corporate PACs representing 3M, Amazon, Walmart, AT&T, and other companies that collectively received billions of dollars in tax breaks from the Republican law, which restored a provision allowing businesses to immediately write off new investments.
Amazon saw its US income taxes fall by more than half last year due to the GOP law, even as the company's profits grew. Unrig Our Economy noted that Amazon, whose PAC donated thousands to the Republicans spotlighted in the new report, has an effective federal tax rate of 1.37% following enactment of the budget law.
Miller-Meeks, who has received at least $57,000 in donations from the PACs of companies that benefited from the 2025 law, issued a statement Thursday bragging about supporting "the largest tax cuts in American history," not mentioning that the benefits will disproportionately flow to profitable corporations and the richest people in the country.
"Thanks to the Republican tax law, corporations are receiving tax breaks, House Republicans are getting campaign cash, and working families are getting stuck with the bill," the report states.
Another Republican lawmaker featured in the report, Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, received $2,500 in campaign donations from the PAC of FirstEnergy, which reaped $500 million in depreciation deductions thanks to the GOP tax law.
"Bresnahan voted to give FirstEnergy hundreds of millions in tax breaks even after the company raised utility prices for his constituents," Unrig Our Economy's report observes.
The report also points out that Bresnahan "owned stock in every single one" of the companies who contributed PAC money to his campaign following passage of the Republican budget package last summer.
"This comes after Bresnahan has already faced scrutiny for dumping stock in Medicaid providers and selling off bonds in Pennsylvania hospitals before voting to slash Medicaid and put rural hospitals at risk," the report notes.
Leor Tal, Unrig Our Economy's campaign director, said in a statement that "one year ago, House Republicans ripped away healthcare and food assistance from millions of Americans, so that corporations could get massive tax breaks."
"Now, many of those companies are dishing out PAC money to the Republicans listed in this report," said Tal. "Republicans in Congress sold out many of their own constituents to help corporations get even richer. It’s time that House Republicans step up, do the right thing, and start fighting for working Americans—not giant corporations."
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2.5 Million Poor Americans Have Lost Food Aid Since Trump Signed GOP's Big Ugly Bill Into Law
"No family should have to worry about putting food on the table, but congressional Republicans have made sure that millions will," said one critic of the GOP's budget law.
Apr 08, 2026
An analysis published Wednesday by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities found that millions of low-income Americans have stopped participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ever since President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law last year.
According to CBPP's analysis, SNAP participation declined by 6% between July 2025 and December 2025, with 2.5 million fewer Americans receiving benefits.
CBPP estimated that millions more will be dropped from SNAP benefits in the coming months as states adjust their budgets to remain in compliance with the law.
"Starting in 2027, most states will have to pay between 5% and 15% of SNAP benefit costs, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars a year in many states," explained CBPP. "The magnitude of the cost shift... may incentivize states to take drastic measures to reduce their payment error rates quickly and cut program costs, even if it means delaying or improperly denying benefits to eligible people."
In total, concluded CBPP, "we estimate that 4 million people in a typical month will lose out" on SNAP benefits "once the changes are fully implemented."
CBPP published a separate analysis focusing specifically on Arizona, where SNAP participation has already fallen "far more than anticipated," while warning that other states could soon see similarly steep participation drops as they rush to comply with the law.
The GOP budget law contained roughly $186 billion in cuts to SNAP over the span of a decade, which came from expanding work requirements, shifting some of the cost of the program to the states, and restricting benefit increases. As a result, millions of Americans became vulnerable to losing their benefits.
Leor Tal, campaign director at Unrig Our Economy, pointed to CBPP's analysis as an example of the GOP waging class warfare on behalf of rich donors.
“SNAP is a lifeline for working Americans nationwide," Tal said. "Now, that lifeline is being ripped away from millions because Republicans in Congress decided that giving tax breaks to billionaires and waging war are more important than protecting food for families. No family should have to worry about putting food on the table, but congressional Republicans have made sure that millions will.”
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Americans Spent $8.4 Billion More on Gas in the First Month of Trump's Iran War: Report
“From the grocery store to the doctor’s office to the gas pump, congressional Republicans are financially crushing working Americans at every turn," said one economic justice campaigner.
Apr 03, 2026
As President Donald Trump's Pentagon pushed Congress to approve $1.5 trillion in new military funding, including $200 billion for the US-Israeli war on Iran, congressional Democrats found that the working Americans whose taxes would fund those appropriations have spent $8.4 billion that otherwise could have gone to groceries, childcare, and other essentials—all at the gas pump.
Democratic members of the Joint Economic Committee released a report Thursday—two days after average gas prices in the US reached $4 per gallon, the highest in nearly four years—showing that those higher prices have forced Americans to pay 35% more on gas than they did a month ago, before Trump joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attacking Iran.
A month after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the war that's killed more than 2,000 Iranians and well over 1,000 people across the Middle East as the conflict has widened, it now costs $145 to fill up just one gas tank for a Ford F-150 pickup truck—$37 more than it did in February.
An SUV costs an average of $58 to fill up, an increase of $15, while a sedan costs $52 on average—$13 more than it did before the war.
The analysis was released a day after Trump unequivocally stated that, despite his campaign pledge to make life more affordable for Americans, his administration's priority is "fighting wars," not ensuring the government provides childcare and healthcare that families can afford.
"We can’t take care of daycare," said Trump. “It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”
“Families are paying more at the pump because Republicans in Congress would rather spend billions of dollars on a war that raises costs than find ways to actually make life more affordable."
The advocacy group Unrig Our Economy noted Friday that the war in Iran, which is supported by nearly every Republican in Congress—is just the latest way in which the GOP under the Trump administration has "raised costs and squeezed families." The Joint Economic Committee found in February that Americans had gotten stuck with the bill due to Trump's aggressive tariffs on imports, which he had claimed would generate massive revenue—but which actually cost the average family more than $1,700 in one year as companies passed off the higher cost of goods and materials to consumers.
“From the grocery store to the doctor’s office to the gas pump, congressional Republicans are financially crushing working Americans at every turn," said Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal.
The committee Democrats also found last month that the average US electric bill rose by $110, or 6.4%, in 2025, driven by Trump's cancellations of renewable energy projects, his push for liquefied natural gas exports, and his demand for an expansion of artificial intelligence data centers.
"Meanwhile, [Republican] attacks on Americans’ healthcare have sent premiums skyrocketing and put over 15 million Americans at risk of losing health insurance. Now, they want to cut healthcare even more to bankroll their costly and unnecessary war," said Unrig Our Economy, referring to Republicans' call to further cut federal health spending to pay for the Iran war.
As Americans have spent more at the gas pump and the White House has offered shifting explanations for why the US continues to wage war on Iran, public approval for the conflict has remained low. Nearly 60% of Americans said late last month that the war has already gone "too far" as the president threatened to escalate further, and 56% of respondents to a poll by Data for Progress said they believe the conflict will benefit Israel, not the US.
This week, two-thirds of people who responded to a CNN poll said they disapproved of the war and did not believe Trump has a clear plan. More than three-quarters said they would not support the Pentagon's request for $200 billion to fund further military action.
But Trump, who White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles admitted this week has been getting a "rose-colored view" of the war in Iran during official briefings, told reporters Thursday that Americans are so relieved that the US and Israel are attacking Iran and killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war that they are not concerned about the financial toll the war is taking on their families.
"We have a country that's not going to be throwing a nuclear weapon at us in six months," said Trump. "They're feeling a lot safer."
US intelligence has determined Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States.
“Families are paying more at the pump," said Tal, "because Republicans in Congress would rather spend billions of dollars on a war that raises costs than find ways to actually make life more affordable."
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Millions of Americans Joining the Ranks of the Uninsured Thanks to Trump-GOP Cuts in 2025
New data released by KFF underscores how "universal, seamless coverage throughout the life course remains an urgent prerogative for the nation," said one physician and advocate.
Mar 20, 2026
About 24.3 million Americans were enrolled in healthcare plans within the Affordable Care Act marketplace last year, but a survey released Thursday by KFF found that about 1 in 10 of those people had no choice but to make a difficult and risky calculation at the end of 2025 when ACA subsidies expired due to Republicans' refusal to support an extension.
According to the research, 9% of people enrolled in plans under the marketplace last year are now uninsured, having dropped their coverage—and costs were a deciding factor for the vast majority of those who left the marketplace.
The expiration of the enhanced tax credits sent premiums skyrocketing by an average of 114%, according to KFF.
The decision was unavoidable for one 54-year-old man in Texas, who told KFF simply, "Without the subsidy, I cannot afford the premium payments.”
A 56-year-old woman in Illinois said her income was too high last year to qualify for subsidies, but the increase in cost this year was "so high even for those without subsidies."
"I simply cannot afford to pay $1,200 a month for insurance," she said. "It used to be high premiums meant low deductibles and copays, but not anymore. This is ridiculous. $1,200 for a healthy person, and an $8,000 deductible. Really?”
A Florida resident named Kelly Rose told The Wall Street Journal that the $1,700 monthly premium she was quoted for an ACA plan would have been more than her mortgage. She missed the enrollment window for health coverage through her job at a bank—assuming her ACA plan would cost less—and is now uninsured and relying on a Canadian pharmacy to get her asthma medication, which would cost $800 per month without insurance in the US.
Cynthia Cox, a senior vice president at KFF, told the Journal that the survey results were “about on target” what the health policy research group had expected last year when the subsidy expiration was looming and Democrats were demanding that the GOP vote with them to extend the tax credits.
“Not only is there significant coverage loss, but there could be more to come,” Cox said.
An estimated 25 million Americans are uninsured, said Harvard Medical School professor and former Physicians for a National Health Plan president Adam Gaffney—a fact he called "abhorrent" as he suggested the new data makes the latest case for "universal, seamless coverage throughout the life course," or an expansion of the Medicare program to the entire US population.
That proposal, which has been introduced in Congress numerous times by lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), would put the US in line with the healthcare systems of other wealthy nations, improve healthcare outcomes, and save an estimated $650 billion per year.
A poll released late last year by Data for Progress found that 65% of likely US voters supported "creating a national health insurance program, sometimes called ‘Medicare for All,’ that would cover all Americans and replace most private health insurance plans."
The fact that millions of Americans have chosen to opt out of the country's for-profit health insurance system—putting their health and finances at risk—is representative of "a profound hollowing-out and weakening of America," said writer and markets researcher Ben Hunt.
The economic justice campaign Unrig Our Economy emphasized that Republicans' cuts to healthcare last year—via the expiration of the subsidies and slashes to Medicaid—put an estimated 15 million Americans at risk of losing health coverage.
“Republicans knew that healthcare tax credits were critical to helping millions of Americans afford their health insurance, but they chose to get rid of them to fund more tax breaks for their billionaire buddies,” said Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal. “Costs are higher, millions are without insurance, and working Americans are having to make sacrifices just to afford basic healthcare—and they know that Republicans are to blame. It’s time Republicans finally started listening to their constituents and fixing the healthcare crisis they created.”
KFF's polling also found that among people who still have health insurance under the ACA, higher premiums and deductibles have left a majority concerned that they wouldn't be able to afford emergency care even with their coverage. Nearly half of respondents said they were worried that even routine medical care will be unaffordable this year with their ACA plans.
Due to Republican attacks, the cost of coverage offered by the program is now forcing 55% of people using the ACA to cut back on spending money on food, household items, and clothing in order to afford it. Forty-three percent said they are trying to find another job or extra income to afford healthcare payments, and nearly a quarter said they are skipping or delaying payments on other bills to afford their health coverage.
More than half of people polled by KFF said they blame Republicans in Congress for their rising healthcare costs.
"Americans are blaming them because it’s true," said Unrig Our Economy. "Congressional Republicans’ massive cuts to health care have put a projected 15 million Americans at risk of losing health insurance and left millions more struggling to keep up with rising costs. Republicans made these cuts all so they could give more tax breaks to billionaires and corporations."
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As Families Struggle to Afford Groceries, Trump to Hold Lavish Fundraising Dinner for His Super PAC
"Thanks to Republican-backed tariffs and devastating SNAP cuts, working Americans are not only facing higher food prices but millions of people are also losing the assistance they rely on," said one critic.
Feb 27, 2026
President Donald Trump will soon be hosting a ritzy fundraiser even as many Americans say they're still struggling to afford weekly groceries.
As flagged by New York Times reporter Teddy Schleifer, Trump on Friday is scheduled to have a fundraising dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort where attendees must pay $1 million each for the price of entry.
According to a Times report published last year on the planned fundraiser, the money raised from the dinner "will flow to a super PAC devoted to Mr. Trump, MAGA Inc., which has vacuumed up hundreds of millions of dollars since he was reelected last year."
The Times noted that it's unclear what Trump plans to do with the vast sums he's raising since he is constitutionally ineligible to serve another term, although that hasn't stopped him from saying he wants to run again in 2028.
The fundraiser is occurring as a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is projecting that US consumers will get little relief from food prices in 2026.
According to the USDA Economic Research Service forecast for February 2026, "prices for all food are predicted to increase 3.1%" this year, "with a prediction interval of 0.7 to 5.7%."
The USDA also projects that seven categories of food are project to see their prices increase faster this year than their 20-year historical average rate of growth: "Beef and veal, other meats, fish and seafood, processed fruits and vegetables, sugar and sweets, cereal and bakery products, and nonalcoholic beverages."
Leor Tal, campaign director at Unrig Our Economy, said on Friday that Republican policies including Trump's tariffs and cuts made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are exacerbating the affordability crisis for US families.
"Families are already struggling to put food on the table and, instead of relief, they’re getting hit with even higher costs because congressional Republicans continue to prioritize billionaires over working Americans," said Tal. "Thanks to Republican-backed tariffs and devastating SNAP cuts, working Americans are not only facing higher food prices but millions of people are also losing the assistance they rely on to put food on the table."
An Associated Press poll released last year found that 53% of Americans believe the cost of groceries is a “major source of stress,” which is higher than the percentage of Americans who say the same thing about the cost of housing, healthcare, and childcare.
Anxiety about grocery prices is particularly strong among Americans earning $30,000 or less per year, as nearly two-thirds of them described paying for groceries as a “major source of stress.”
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As Companies Plot Price Hikes, GOP Congress Urged to End Trump Tariffs
"Republicans in Congress have the power to end these cost-raising policies, but instead are voting to rubber-stamp them and put more strain on their constituents," said a leader at Unrig Our Economy.
Feb 16, 2026
A national campaign "to fix the rules of our economy to make it work for working people" took aim at Republicans in Congress on Monday in response to reporting that US companies are planning another round of price hikes due to President Donald Trump's tariffs.
"Companies had raised prices last year after tariffs hoisted costs. Yet starting in the fall, many firms held off on increases and sometimes offered discounts to capture holiday shoppers," the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. "The pricing break is over."
"Some companies have pointed a finger at tariffs for their increases, while others, especially small businesses, also blame higher wages and hefty health insurance costs that firms said they can't absorb or share with suppliers," the Journal detailed.
Citing a December survey of 600 entrepreneurs by Vistage Worldwide, the newspaper noted that "more than half of small business leaders said they planned to increase prices in the next three months," and "nearly 70% planned increases of 4% to 10%, while another 10% forecast increases of more than 10%."
In a Monday statement about the reporting, Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal declared that "Americans are once again bracing for higher costs thanks to Republican-backed tariffs. Republicans in Congress have the power to end these cost-raising policies, but instead are voting to rubber-stamp them and put more strain on their constituents."
Last Wednesday, all but six Republicans in the GOP-controlled US House of Representatives opposed a resolution expressing disapproval of Trump's tariffs targeting Canada. Shortly before the vote, the president said on his Truth Social platform, "Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!"
Tal said Monday that "from pushing for the largest cuts to healthcare in history, to backing tariffs that raise the price of everyday goods for Americans, Republicans in Congress have made life less affordable for their constituents at every turn—all while giving billionaires massive tax breaks."
GOP lawmakers stuffed those tax breaks into the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Trump signed last summer. The budget package also featured massive cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and did not extend tax credits that helped millions buy health insurance on Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges.
Subsequent efforts to continue the ACA subsidies—which lapsed at the end of last year—have also failed. That means millions of Americans now face skyrocketing health insurance premiums alongside rising costs tied to policies that include Trump's tariffs.
Trump often insists that foreign producers pay for his tariffs, but a major study released last month by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank, made clear that—in line with decades of economic research—US businesses and consumers are largely paying for the president's taxes on imports.
Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee last month released another report showing that the average American family paid $1,625 in higher costs last year due to tariffs and other Trump policies. In some states—including Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York—the impact for the typical household exceeded $2,000.
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'There Is No Excuse': Senate Slammed for Punting on Bill to Restore ACA Subsidies
"Senate Republicans must pass this bipartisan legislation today, end the Republican healthcare crisis, and deliver immediate relief to American families," said one campaigner.
Jan 13, 2026
A week away from open enrollment ending in most states, 17 GOP members of the US House of Representatives helped Democrats pass a bill to restore lapsed Affordable Care Act premium tax credits—but senators have declined to act with that same urgency, and the deadline for many Americans to make coverage decisions for 2026 is Thursday.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), a lead negotiator for a bipartisan Senate group working on a compromise for the expired ACA subsidies, told Politico on Tuesday that the legislative text will no longer be ready this week. Instead, it's now expected the last week of January—after not only the upper chamber's upcoming recess, but also when millions of people nationwide will have already had to choose a plan on an ACA marketplace or to forgo health insurance coverage due to surging premiums.
In response to the reporting, Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal highlighted in a statement that "millions of Americans are paying sky-high health insurance premiums after congressional Republicans ended the healthcare tax cuts working families depend on. A three-year extension has already cleared the House with bipartisan support."
"Any delay needlessly sticks millions of working people with higher costs; There is no excuse," Tal added. "Senate Republicans must pass this bipartisan legislation today, end the Republican healthcare crisis, and deliver immediate relief to American families."
Tal, Democratic lawmakers, labor leaders, and other supporters of reviving the ACA subsidies had similarly demanded Senate action following last Thursday's 230-196 vote—which came after multiple Republican lawmakers broke with party leadership and signed a Democratic discharge petition that enabled the bill's backers to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Moreno's remarks on the Senate group's "punt," as Politico put it, came after Axios reported that congressional Democratic leadership on Sunday sent Republicans a proposal to renew ACA subsidies for three years, "paired with extensions of other expiring health programs."
Axios also noted that President Donald Trump told reporters late Sunday that he "might" veto a subsidy extension. Whether any will reach his desk, though, remains unclear—and even if one does, it is increasingly likely it'll be after Americans have to make choices about 2026 coverage. Amid the uncertainty over future ACA subsidies, Illinois and Pennsylvania extended the enrollment period through February 1.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday that nearly 22.8 million people have signed up for 2026 individual market health insurance coverage through the ACA marketplaces—around 19.9 million returning consumers and 2.8 million new ones.
The nonprofit Community Catalyst pointed out that the overall enrollment figure is down by about 1.4 million from last year. Michelle Sternthal, the advocacy group's interim senior director of policy and strategy, said that "these numbers confirm what people across the country are already feeling: We are in a healthcare affordability crisis."
"When Congress failed to extend the enhanced premium tax credits, premiums spiked overnight—from $921 to $1,998, or $121 to $373. Families are facing impossible choices," Sternthal stressed in her Tuesday statement.
"These outcomes aren't random. They are the direct result of policy decisions that have weakened our healthcare system over time," she continued. "Coverage works. Stability matters. Healthcare is not a luxury—it is shared infrastructure. When people are healthy, our communities and our economy are stronger. Congress created this crisis, and Congress has the power—and the responsibility—to act now."
The drawn-out debate over the ACA tax credits on Capitol Hill has spurred broader critiques of the US healthcare system, including fresh demands for Medicare for All. Even before the subsidies expired at the end of last year, the typical working US family spent $3,960 on healthcare annually, including premiums and out-of-pocket costs, according to research released Tuesday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
"Ten percent of working families paid more than $14,800 on insurance premiums and other out-of-pocket healthcare expenses," says the CEPR report, which is based on 2024 data. "And more than 1 of every 8 workers (13.3%) are in families that spent greater than 10% of their annual income on healthcare."
The publication warns that "healthcare costs are rising faster than inflation, and future increases in premiums, ACA costs, and Medicaid cutbacks will worsen the burden."
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Senate GOP Faces Fresh Pressure After House Vote for Affordable Care Act Subsidies
"Today's vote represents a glimmer of hope for the 22 million Americans desperately trying to hold onto affordable health coverage for themselves and their families," said one campaigner.
Jan 08, 2026
US Senate Republicans are under renewed pressure to restore the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits after 17 GOP members of the House of Representatives helped Democrats pass legislation to extend the recently expired ACA subsidies by three years.
The 230-196 vote—in which five Republicans did not participate—came after GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Michael Lawler (NY), Rob Bresnahan (Pa.), and Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.) broke with their party's leadership last month and signed a Democratic discharge petition that allowed the bill's backers to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Joining those four Republicans and all House Democrats on Thursday were GOP Reps. Mike Carey (Ohio), Monica De La Cruz (Texas), Andrew Garbarino (NY), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), David Joyce (Ohio), Thomas Kean Jr. (NJ), Nick LaLota (NY), Max Miller (Ohio), Zachary Nunn (Iowa), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.), David Valadao (Calif.), Derrick Van Orden (Wis.), and Rob Wittman (Va.).
"Despite Speaker Johnson's best efforts to block legislation to extend the ACA tax credits—Democratic leadership forced a vote and it passed!" declared Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.). "The Senate must immediately follow our lead to lower costs for millions of Americans who are seeing their premiums skyrocket."
Senators also celebrated the development and called for a vote in their GOP-controlled chamber.
"Finally after we pushed this for a year!" said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), noting that 17 House Republicans helped advance the bill. "The Senate must vote on it ASAP to lower costs for tens of millions of Americans."
Over 20 million Americans face soaring premiums because of the lapsed subsidies, and some people are forgoing health insurance coverage because of the new rates—which have surged alongside other rising costs tied to President Donald Trump's agenda.
"At a time when millions of Americans are being crushed under the weight of higher healthcare prices and cost-raising tariffs, this vote to bring back the healthcare tax credits is a testament to thousands of constituents nationwide who never let their members of Congress off the hook," said Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal.
"Now, we are taking this fight to the Senate," Tal continued. "Just like in the House, Senate Republicans have a choice—either stand with your constituents or vote to raise their healthcare costs exponentially. The answer should be clear."
While similarly welcoming the House passage, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin also called out the majority of Republicans in the chamber who opposed the bill, arguing that they "have once again chosen to abandon working families."
"Millions of everyday Americans have already seen their healthcare premiums skyrocket, and what are Donald Trump and Republicans doing to help? Not a damn thing," Martin said. "They already gutted Medicaid while handing out massive tax cuts to billionaires—and now they see no problem with allowing costs to skyrocket even more. House Democrats fought tooth and nail to pass this bill, and now the Senate must come to the table and extend the tax credits—it's time to stop screwing around with Americans' healthcare."
As the Associated Press reported:
A small group of senators from both parties has been working on an alternative plan that could find support in both chambers and become law. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that for any plan to find support in his chamber, it will need to have income limits to ensure that the financial aid is focused on those who most need the help. He and other Republicans also want to ensure that beneficiaries would have to at least pay a nominal amount for their coverage.
Finally, Thune said there would need to be some expansion of health savings accounts, which allow people to save money and withdraw it tax-free as long as the money is spent on qualified medical expenses.
Anthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Families USA, said Thursday that the House "discharge petition and vote put pressure on the president and the Republican congressional leadership to stop with the poison pills and procedural barriers and extend the enhanced tax credits so Americans can afford coverage."
"Millions of Americans began the new year facing staggering increases in their monthly health insurance premiums—in many cases seeing health costs double overnight," he noted. "This sudden spike, of more than $1,000 on average, is not just a shock—it's a breaking point. Without action, an estimated 4 million marketplace enrollees are expected to go uninsured, and many millions more will become underinsured, paying more and getting less."
"Today's vote represents a glimmer of hope for the 22 million Americans desperately trying to hold onto affordable health coverage for themselves and their families," he said. "Congress should not have needed a discharge petition to force a vote on something so overwhelmingly supported by the public and so essential to the health and financial security of American families. Every day we delay does further damage, so it's urgent for the Senate to stand with the 77% of voters who want to see a clean extension passed."
Wright also stressed that "with open enrollment ending in most states in just six days, families are being forced to make impossible choices in real time. Doing nothing is a choice to price out and push millions to lose coverage, rack up debt, and go without care. The Senate must now do its job and deliver the relief American families urgently need."
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) president Lee Saunders also took aim at the Senate on Thursday, saying that "the cost-of-living crisis is an unaffordable and unsustainable reality for millions of people, and it's getting worse."
"Thankfully, pro-worker lawmakers in the House voted today to restore the Affordable Care Act premium credits—a lifeline helping tens of millions of families afford healthcare," he said. "These tax credits also help keep costs lower for everyone else on health insurance—supporting them should be a no-brainer. We call on the Senate to act quickly and restore these tax credits. Working families are counting on them."
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National 'Billionaires Eat First' Campaign Aims to Make Trump and GOP Pay for Aid Cuts
Organizers of the new campaign said Republicans are slashing nutrition assistance and other programs "after giving Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires a massive tax break."
Nov 13, 2025
A nationwide campaign announced Thursday aims to rally Americans against US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party's unpopular effort to demolish what's left of the country's social safety net to help fund tax breaks for the ultrarich.
The Billionaires Eat First campaign officially launches Friday with events in the nation's capital and Montgomery, Alabama, where local leaders, advocates, and impacted families will gather to spotlight the harms of the GOP's cuts to federal nutrition assistance. Over the summer, congressional Republicans approved the largest-ever cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Trump administration used the prolonged government shutdown to throttle food benefits for millions.
During the shutdown, which ended on Wednesday, the more than 900 billionaires in the United States saw their combined wealth grow to a record $8 trillion as tens of millions of low-income people watched the Trump administration illegally withhold their nutrition benefits.
"Trump and congressional Republicans are taking food off the table for kids, seniors, and veterans, while families already struggle with high grocery costs," said Leor Tal, campaign director of Unrig Our Economy, the coalition that organized the new campaign in partnership with local organizations.
"And they’re doing this after giving Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other billionaires a massive tax break," Tal added. "Families need to feed their loved ones; billionaires don’t need yet another tax break. It’s wrong."
Unrig Our Economy said that the Billionaires Eat First events will feature speeches from local leaders and people directly affected by the Trump-GOP SNAP cuts. The campaign is also a mutual aid effort, with volunteers expected to donate hundreds of thousands of meals to local food banks ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Across America, kids, seniors, and veterans have lost vital food assistance. Why? Because Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress chose to give billionaires and big corporations massive tax breaks, while cutting SNAP benefits in their tax law, and heartlessly withholding SNAP benefits during the government shutdown," the campaign's website states. "We’re standing up to say: it’s callous, it’s cruel, and it’s wrong."
In addition to Friday's events, the campaign will have stops in West Virginia and Pennsylvania on Saturday, and Louisiana, New York, and Arizona next week.
The campaign was announced hours after Trump signed funding legislation that ended the government shutdown—though the impacts of the standoff are expected to linger, with SNAP benefits still in chaos and health insurance premiums set to rise further as Republicans refuse to back an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year.
Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, implored the Trump administration and states to quickly deliver full November benefits to those who have not yet received them.
"It remains shocking that the administration did everything it could during the shutdown to keep much-needed food assistance from reaching those in need," said FitzSimons. "The administration went as far as the Supreme Court to keep SNAP benefits out of the hands of those in need. This unnecessary and harmful decision left millions of Americans hungry and in limbo."
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