Lowering Costs for Michigan Families

As I travel Michigan’s 5th District, I have heard from many families who are concerned about the cost of living. Under the failed policies of the previous administration, inflation soared, and gas prices reached the highest level in American history. I remain committed to reining in wasteful spending and costly regulations to offer vital economic relief to Michigan families. Below are some of the actions I have taken to make life more affordable for hardworking Michiganders. While we have made much progress, we still have much more work to do to reduce costs for families and ensure that Americans can pocket more of their hard-earned money.

Combating Inflation

Under the policies of the previous administration, inflation averaged nearly 5% — hitting 9.1% during the worst inflation crisis in decades. In 2025, inflation dropped to an average of 2.7%, the critical first step in bringing down the cost of living.

This is largely due to House Republicans' efforts to reverse burdensome regulations that increased costs for families. These deregulatory efforts are saving Americans a collective $180 billion, or $2,100 per family of four. I remain committed to pursuing efforts to remove costly and duplicative regulations. 

Offering Historic Tax Relief for Families

I helped usher through the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, which delivers historic relief to hardworking Michiganders. According to the House Committee on Ways and Means Majority, this historic legislation prevented residents of Michigan’s 5th Congressional District from seeing a 27% tax hike. If not for the Working Families Tax Cuts, a family of 4 making $65,437, the median income of MI-05, would have seen a $1,240 tax increase, which equates to about 6 weeks' worth of groceries.

As a result of this historic legislation, this open filing tax season will be the largest refund season for Michigan families. Americans will receive an additional $91 billion in tax refunds.

This means that:

In addition to lower taxes for families, the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation contains other pro-family provisions like increasing the child tax credit, establishing accounts for newborns to start saving, and strengthening paid family leave.

It also includes no tax on Social Security for 88% of recipients to offer vital economic relief to our nation’s seniors and allows Americans to deduct interest on auto loans for made-in-America vehicles. 

Allowing Workers to Pocket More of Their Hard-Earned Money

After experiencing runaway inflation year after year, Americans deserve relief and policies that will allow them to keep more of their hard-earned dollars. The Working Families Tax Cuts legislation includes many provisions that will deliver on the commitment made to American workers, revitalize our economy, and prevent an estimated 6 million jobs from being lost.

The legislation is projected toincrease take-home pay by up to $11,700 for a typical family of 4 in Michigan.

Key policies like no tax on tips and overtime will also help both tipped workers and hourly employees working overtime take an extra $1,500 a year home to their families.

Alleviating the Pain at the Pump and Lowering Electric Bill Costs

To address high energy prices, I have helped pass legislation to fast-track American energy production, reform our permitting system, and ensure that the critical minerals needed for advanced technologies come from America – not China. 

The Working Families Tax Cuts included many provisions that will unleash American energy production to unlock our full energy potential and bring down costs for American families. The bill increases onshore and offshore oil and gas leases to provide certainty for energy producers, spurs job growth, and makes energy more affordable for American consumers. The bill also increases the mining of domestic minerals and makes America less dependent on foreign adversaries for critical minerals. Moreover, provisions in the package would reverse anti-energy policies that led to skyrocketing energy costs by repealing or phasing out green corporate welfare subsidies and stopping credits from flowing to China to save taxpayers over $500 billion every year.

Some of my other efforts include:

  • Passing the SPEED Act and PERMIT Act, which would streamline the permitting process, so we can build critical energy infrastructure, boost economic development, and most importantly, lower energy costs for hardworking families.
  • Introducing the PIPES Act, which would prevent the President from unilaterally shutting down safe, essential, and existing energy pipelines or electric transmission facilities without Congressional approval.
  • Passing the Protecting American Energy Production Act, which would prevent any President from declaring a moratorium on fracking unless authorized to do so by law.
  • Passing the REFINER Act, which would help increase America’s refining capacity and strengthen energy infrastructure to unleash
    American energy and lower energy costs for Americans.
  • Passing the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act, which streamlines permitting for exporting LNG to strengthen our economy and stabilize prices

Lowering the Cost of Health Care

I am committed to lowering out-of-pocket costs and strengthening transparency and accountability in drug pricing. In 2025, I helped usher through the House the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, which would lower premiums by at least 11% and save taxpayers about $30 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office's projections. 

Furthermore, it requires pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to provide employers with clear, detailed reporting on prescription drug spending, including rebates, pricing, and formulary decisions. By providing transparency, this will help lower premium costs and improve access to prescription medications.

The Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act also included a bill I authored, the Association Health Plans Act, which expands access to affordable and high-quality care and has been proven to drive down costs for enrollees in some industries by up to 50%, as reported by the Foundation for Government Accountability.

Furthermore, I supported legislation that President Trump signed into law, which requires pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to provide employers with clear, detailed reporting on prescription drug spending, including rebates, pricing, and formulary decisions. By providing transparency, this will help lower premium costs and improve access to prescription medications.

We'll continue to work to bring down health care costs for Michigan families. 

Making Housing More Affordable

We must ensure that hardworking Michiganders can achieve their own American Dream. To make housing more affordable, I voted for the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, which reinstates the Mortgage Insurance Premium tax deduction. This will save first-time homebuyers thousands of dollars a year on their taxes.

I also supported the Affordable HOMES Act, which passed the House in January 2026. This critical legislation reverses duplicative and costly regulations on manufactured homes to lower costs for families.

To build on these efforts, the House also passed the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which cuts red tape, modernizes outdated Department of Housing and Urban Development programs, and unlocks capital to expand housing. These bipartisan solutions will increase our housing supply, lower costs, and provide families with more options. 

The SPEED Act and PERMIT Act will also streamline the permitting process and ease regulatory burdens to further accelerate the production of housing and get America back to building.

Reining in Wasteful Spending

To strengthen our economy and lower costs for Americans, we must also rein in out-of-control spending by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. I have supported the Rescissions Act, which would rein in over $9 billion in wasteful spending, returning taxpayer dollars to the Treasury instead of allowing them to be used inefficiently.

As Chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, I was tasked with finding savings for taxpayers. My portion of the Working Families Tax Cuts legislation, the Student Success and Taxpayers Savings Plan, implemented over $281 billion in savings for taxpayers.