The White House Must Combat High Cost Of Living To Win The Midterms

The high—and rising—cost of living hurt Republicans in the recent elections, which bodes ill for the GOP in the 2026 midterm congressional races next year. Republicans are in panic mode. Voters are blaming them for high prices. It’s true much of that is the result of Joe Biden’s disastrous policies, but as incumbents, the GOP owns the economy now.

What they must not do is fall into the trap Biden fell into and blame businesses like beef processors and pharmaceutical companies. They would sound no different than Senator Elizabeth Warren (D–MA) and New York City’s incoming, neo-communist mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Voters wouldn’t be impressed.

There are, however, a number of constructive measures to be taken, which combined with a better communications strategy, would put the GOP in a far stronger position to face the electorate. Start with tariffs. As the administration now acknowledges, tariffs are taxes. They are a barrier between producers and consumers. They make doing business more expensive, which hurts the economy.

The recent announcement that higher tariffs would be exempted on a variety of foods, such as coffee, tea, beef, tomatoes, bananas, cocoa, various spices and others agricultural goods, was a good start. While egg prices have gone down, all too many other grocery items have become more expensive. There should be more exemptions, starting with pasta from Italy.

The Supreme Court will likely rule that tariffs imposed by executive order are unconstitutional. That will cut the overall tariff tax by more than 50%.

This brings us to the sensitive issue of housing, which has become unaffordable for millions of would-be buyers. Removing tariffs on building materials like lumber would help reduce building costs.

The administration should push portable mortgages, which would allow a homeowner to transfer an existing mortgage to a new home rather than paying off the old mortgage and taking on a new one. This would enable people who got those juicy 3% mortgages to move without getting hit with higher rates, thereby opening up a partially frozen market.

The administration should also graphically and persistently highlight areas of the country with reasonable zoning laws and sensible permitting processes in contrast to those that impose onerous restrictions and time-consuming procedures. A housing development in places like Texas can get clearance in weeks versus years in California, where housing prices are obscenely and unnecessarily high.

Of course, President Trump should continue pressuring the Federal Reserve to slash interest ratesthe Federal Reserve to slash interest rates, which are inexcusably high. Longterm mortgages for qualified buyers shouldn’t be much higher than 5%, instead of today’s 6%-plus level.

Healthcare is another cost-of-living sore spot. The proclaimed goal should be to have patients control their own healthcare dollars rather than employers, insurers, Medicare and Medicaid. To that end, unnecessary restrictions on Health Savings Accounts, which cover more than 61 million people, should be removed or modified, including how much money can be put into these vehicles.

Another priority should be legislation firming up the right of small businesses and self-employed individuals to join together in pools to buy insurance at lower rates. Many small businesses have abandoned their healthcare insurance plans and let their workers go on Obamacare because of high costs.

The administration should push Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) that enable employees to select and own their policies, instead of being forced to take what the employer offers. One great benefit of HRAs for employees is that they can pay for care from a provider of their own choosing, not of their insurers.

One glaring omission of the Big Beautiful Bill is that it didn’t slash personal income tax rates, the corporate tax rate or the capital gains tax rate. Republicans should put forth a reconciliation bill to do just that. Such reductions would more than overcome the deadweight of tariffs.

Robust prosperity and rising incomes would deal a mighty blow to the lack of affordability.