POLITICS: How Trump’s first-year gains tee up affordability wins in year 2

Twelve months ago, Americans were rightfully angry about record inflation under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — with rates that reached nearly 9% in mid-2022. 

What a difference a year makes.

Today, as President Donald Trump marks the one-year anniversary of his second inauguration, we’re at the lowest inflation rate in five years, down 70% from that painful peak under Biden.

Here in New York, the cost-of-living crunch has been exacerbated by the high-tax, big-spending policies of Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats, who continue to nickel-and-dime working people with tax, toll, fare, fee and utility increases at every turn.

And with Zohran Mamdani at the helm in New York City, there’s no end in sight: Despite the city’s $12 billion budget gap, the new mayor is pledging to raise taxes and increase spending even further, with Hochul’s help.

All this Democratic mismanagement is why I was proud to lead the fight in Washington to win a massive working-families tax cut, standing up to leaders in both parties to achieve a quadrupling of the SALT deduction.

That reform means 90% of Hudson Valley residents can deduct their state and local taxes on their federal tax return — easing the burdens imposed by Albany.  

The Republican tax cut the president signed last year means a $3,293 average tax savings for the typical Hudson Valley family of four; a new $6,000 tax deduction for our seniors; an average $3,350 savings for workers earning tips and overtime; and a $2,200 per-child tax credit for 87,770 families in my district.

Thanks to Trump’s commonsense economic policies and determined leadership, years of economic chaos and energy policies that punished production are in the past, and Americans are finally starting to feel some real relief.

Across the country, the cost of living is no longer spiraling upward, wages are rising, the job market is stabilizing, and perhaps most notably, gas prices are coming down.

We all remember that under Joe Biden just a short while ago, gas prices were at all-time record highs, our strategic petroleum reserve was depleted, and energy producers were handcuffed by unnecessary, burdensome regulations.

Trump and congressional Republicans reversed that failed approach immediately.

Industry leaders have responded to the president’s pro-growth, pro-energy actions, and Americans are now seeing results in their paychecks and at the pumps.

In Trump’s second term, gas prices have fallen to the lowest average price in more than four years and Americans are on track to spend the lowest amount of their disposable income on gas in the last two decades.

In addition to falling gas prices, cars have become more affordable and easier to manufacture here in America, due in part to the swift elimination of radical and costly electric-vehicle mandates that jacked up prices and reduced safety. 

Grocery prices, too, are coming down, with the cost of eggs, dairy, produce and prescription drugs all declining.

Furthermore, housing affordability is finally trending in the right direction, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate sitting 12% lower than when Trump began his second term — saving Americans $3,000 per year on new mortgages.

All these results are creating a renewed spirit of optimism for hardworking Americans: At last, this country is headed in the right economic direction.

Yet even with all this progress, there’s important work ahead to ensure every one of us feels the full benefit of this president’s pro-worker, pro-family, pro-business, pro-senior agenda.

Trump’s first year has been a victory not just for sound economic policy, but also for economic prosperity.

As we enter Year 2 of Republican leadership in Washington, our focus will remain on affordability.

We’ll work on critical health-care reforms: reining in health-care costs by taking on the insurance companies; enacting “most favored nation” status with the pharmaceutical companies to ensure Americans pay lower prices rather than subsidize other countries; expanding access to health savings accounts to put money in the hands of the people, not the insurance companies, and more.

We’ll reduce housing costs by cutting red tape, increasing access to capital for building new housing, cutting taxes on capital gains from home sales, and preventing investors from gobbling up the housing market.

Finally, we’ll enact long-sought permitting reforms to increase domestic energy production and rebuild critical infrastructure, driving down utility costs.

In the year ahead, I look forward to working with President Trump and my colleagues to deliver for the Hudson Valley, and for all of New York.

As he says, the best is yet to come.  

Mike Lawler represents New York’s Hudson Valley area in the US House of Representatives.