OVERVIEW
In 2024, President Trump campaigned on lowering costs. He promised to “cut your energy prices in half” within his first year of office, said prices would come down “on day one,” and pledged to “cherish” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Similarly, Congressional Republicans, too, promised to lower costs. Instead, their actions raised prices and gutted the social safety net for struggling families. Two years later, the receipts tell a different story.
Economic Security Project Action (ESPA)’s Republican Receipts offer a district-by-district account of the gap between what 22 vulnerable Republicans and President Trump promised on the campaign trail and what they really delivered in office: higher prices and less support for families.
See all 23 Republican Receipts
Visit link:With the midterms looming, Republicans can’t keep dodging accountability for sticking working folks with the bill for their expensive, harmful agenda. Voters deserve to know, in dollar amounts, exactly what Republicans have cost them. ESPA’s Receipts are a key pillar of our ongoing work to hold lawmakers who hurt working families accountable:
- The Republican Receipts: Individual accountability documents for 22 vulnerable Republican lawmakers and President Trump, pairing the lawmaker’s own promises with their voting record and the real dollar cost to constituents in their districts.
- “The Price Is High” Week of Action (September 23–30): An affordability-focused accountability push in competitive Congressional districts, including all Receipts targets, nationwide. Events include a cost of living crisis town hall in CA-22, a veterans’ affordability event with VetsForward in AZ-06, and a lemonade truck tour highlighting the squeeze families are feeling across several districts in Pennsylvania, led by MomsRising and Pennsylvanians. Together. Coordinated with lead co-sponsors National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, UnidosUS, and Community Change Action.
- Investment in key districts: Across paid media, sub-grants, and in-district organizing, ESPA has committed more than $500k in 20 House districts and 2 Senate seats in 12 states with the tools, funds, and information they need to mobilize their own communities and hold lawmakers accountable for raising costs this cycle.
The Affordability Dashboard, from ESPA’s sister organization Economic Security Project, puts hard numbers behind the crisis that families are feeling by tracking major price pain points like childcare, healthcare, groceries, gas, and rent, in real time, nationally and by state. Here’s what we know:
- Families are paying more for all kinds of groceries, but some items have skyrocketed more than others. The price of ground beef is up over 24% since January 2025.
- Coffee is nearing $10 a bag, nearly a 33% jump over the same time period, driven in part by Trump’s tariffs.
- Electric bills are up over 10% nationwide. That’s a far cry from the dramatic reduction Trump and Republicans promised.
- As of this month, the national average price of gasoline rose above $4 per gallon, more than a dollar higher than last year.
- Healthcare was already expensive, but since last year, a typical 40-year old is paying over 25% more for marketplace coverage.
- Childcare costs now exceed the average mortgage payment in nearly every state.
Republicans campaigned on affordability, but their agenda has forced families into austerity. The Republican Receipts make that contrast impossible to ignore, and ESP’s Affordability Dashboard can show anyone exactly what it’s costing them.
WHAT THE REPUBLICAN RECEIPTS SHOW
The Republican Receipts connect the dots between the pocketbook pain that families are feeling today and the expensive, harmful policies these 23 lawmakers have passed. Each Receipt pairs a lawmaker’s own public promises to fight the cost of living crisis and protect access to healthcare with a record of how their votes in Congress have instead sent costs soaring even higher and gutted our social safety net right when families need it most. The Receipts also tally the dollar impact on constituents, breaking down average monthly costs for rent, childcare, gas, utilities, and groceries in each lawmaker’s district or state.
The Receipts show that rather than delivering the relief they promised, these 23 Republicans backed policies that raised the cost of healthcare, gas, groceries, electricity, and student loans. Their signature bill, H.R. 1, slashed food assistance and healthcare access for millions of vulnerable Americans in order to pay for tax cuts that primarily benefit the ultra-rich. Working Americans are already feeling the financial pain of the GOP agenda:
- More than half of Americans struggled to afford gas and groceries this summer.
- Over half of American adults say they can’t consistently afford healthcare.
- An estimated 22 million people are paying more for ACA coverage or going without healthcare after Republicans killed tax credits that help working folks afford care.
- Almost 50% of all parents say childcare costs affect their ability to work.
- 1 in 3 households struggled to pay their electric bills in the past year.
- About 43% of adults don’t expect to retire between rising prices and relatively flat wages.
The consequences of Republicans’ actions are already bad enough, and the damage will worsen if we don’t hold these lawmakers accountable. Republican healthcare cuts have already cost over 6.5 million people coverage, and projections suggest 16 million in total could lose healthcare. At least 4.5 million people, including 1.5 million hungry kids, have lost food assistance from SNAP cuts, but further losses are anticipated. Even Americans who don’t rely directly on Medicaid or SNAP will feel the downstream damage as massive cuts drive healthcare and food costs higher for everyone.
Here’s the bottom line: Republicans promised to lower costs, but the receipts show they raised them. Families can’t afford two more years of the GOP’s costly chaos.
THE REPUBLICANS IN THE RECEIPTS
When it comes to the cost of living, the price is high and we have the receipts. Here’s our affordability watch list: GOP members who promised lower costs, but voted to make things much much worse.
Sen. Sullivan (AK), Rep. Begich (AK-At Large), Rep. Crane (AZ-02), Rep. Ciscomani (AZ-06), Rep. Valadao (CA-22), Rep Hurd (CO-03), Rep. Evans (CO-08), Rep. Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Rep. Nunn (IA-03), Rep. Barrett (MI-07), Rep. Van Drew (NJ-02), Rep. Kean Jr. (NJ-07), Rep. Lawler (NY-17), Sen. Husted, Rep. Miller (OH-07), Rep. Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Rep. Mackenzie (PA-07), Rep. Bresnahan (PA-08), Rep. Perry (PA-10), Rep. Wittman (VA-01), Rep. Kiggans (VA-02), Rep. Van Orden (WI-03), and President Trump