U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen said he and his colleagues in Washington should do more to manage the rising costs hitting American households.
Sorensen, the Moline Democrat representing Illinois’ 17th District, met with representatives of local service agencies Wednesday at the Peoria Township office for a roundtable discussion looking at affordability issues and ways to help families make ends meet.
“What we have to do as elected leaders, whether it’s Republicans and Democrats, state senators and representatives and federal representatives, is make sure that we’re keeping money in people’s pockets. It’s as simple as that,” said Sorensen.
The congressman joined township supervisor LaTrina Leary, Lindsey Nance and Crystal Breweur from Tazwood Community Services, and city clerk Stefanie Tarr representing Peoria’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul in exploring such issues as gas prices, utility expenses, healthcare needs and housing costs.
“It’s understanding that everything adds up, which is why I’m not just looking at lowering prescription drug costs,” said Sorensen, who is a co-sponsor of the Stop Games Act that seeks to stop attempts by brand-name drug manufacturers to block generic competitors.
“It’s, what can we do to lower gas prices? Year-round E15, if we could get those pumps here in Peoria, what that would mean for people’s budgets? But then also understanding, how can we connect people to financial literacy so that they can create that budget, and they’re going to be able to not just sustain themselves but thrive?”
Leary said escalating living expenses impact a wide range of families facing a variety of situations.
“I don’t think that there’s just one common denominator, because there’s such a multitude of increased costs, whether it is prescriptions, medical, insurance, taxes, gas, the list goes on and on,” said Leary. “Collectively, that’s some of the things that are impacting some of the families that are having a hard time making ends meet.”
She said affordability issues can be especially tough on seniors living on fixed incomes.
“One of the things that I found in particular, in between the age range of 31-45, that’s where we’re seeing where the families come into play,” said Leary. “But shortly right behind it, we’re seeing residents who are over the age of 62. They’re the next age bracket that we’re seeing a huge increase of residents that need help.”
Nance said she believes a collaborative and coordinated effort is crucial to helping people overcome economic hardships.
“In all honesty, agencies have to work together to break generational poverty,” said Nance. “We have to educate the next generation and help them want to strive for better, whether it be education, the trades, finding the niche that’s going to help them have the life that they want to have for themselves.”
Tarr said the St. Vincent de Paul Society does what it can to help families get through tough times.
“Sometimes we’ll reach out to maybe the landlord and we’ll try to negotiate a deal with them, if for some reason our friend is behind in payments,” said Tarr. “Sometimes we may help them reach out to the township and see what we can get from the township to help you with the energy [bills].”
Sorensen said he’s interested in seeing more clean energy opportunities, and he’d like to see power companies like Ameren act as “good faith partners” in making sure people can afford their utility expenses.
“We need to develop new strategies for how we put electricity onto the grid, making sure that we’re lowering those costs for people at home,” he said. “I think it’s going to take hard work in Congress to get that done because it hasn’t happened.”
Sorensen said “affordability” is somewhat of an abstract concept, noting that multiple factors affect a household’s economic position.
“It isn’t just one thing. It’s not saying that if we can bring the cost of groceries down, that immediately everything is affordable again,” he said.
“If you have a single mom or a single dad working as hard as they can, working two, three jobs just to pay for childcare, that person — that mom or dad — does not know what the definition of affordability is, because it’s not something that they’ve ever been able to understand in their life experience.”
Sorensen said getting elected officials to work together on helping people meet their living expenses can be a challenge, particularly when President Donald Trump has referred to the affordability crisis as a hoax.
“I don’t think the president understands what affordability is, obviously. Just look at what he’s trying to gild in gold all over Washington, D.C., all the while people are struggling to pay their bills,” he said.
“We need to lower the costs today, because if we really are the greatest nation in the world, we better act like it. We better make sure that people aren’t falling through the cracks.”
