U.S. Rep. Josh Harder: Making Stanislaus County and the Valley affordable again
Growing up in Turlock, it felt affordable to live and raise a family in our community. Dad ran a small business. Mom volunteered and helped out in church. Money didn’t grow on trees, but people made enough to get by and help each other out.
This Christmas season though, I’m worried the Valley economy of my childhood isn’t coming back. Housing, groceries, gas, you name it — prices are going up. It’s getting more difficult to raise a family here, and I’m worried about what it means for our future.
Take the cost of gas. California has the highest prices in the nation. Add to that the growing cost of housing. Home prices have risen by more than two thirds in the last decade. Put prescription drugs on top of that. Americans pay $1,200 a year for their prescription drugs, the most in the world. Compare all of that to the stagnant wages we’ve seen and what you get is an economic disaster for the Valley.
So this season, I’m working on three things: 1) Lowering the cost of goods. 2) Bringing the price of gas down to Earth. 3) Delivering good-paying jobs to the Valley.
Lowering the price of goods
Everything from ground beef to plywood is more expensive than ever right now, and a huge reason is our broken supply chain.
Right now we have ships the size of football fields waiting weeks to get their goods off the boat. Meanwhile, truckers are spending hours sitting idle before they can get a loading dock. All of that means it costs more to ship products around the world, and that costs all of us money in the checkout line.
In order to get this fixed, I’m leading a bipartisan bill to put the U.S. military in charge of the situation. Our men and women in uniform are the best we have, so let’s let them help our shippers get back on track.
Bringing gas prices down to Earth
No one should have to kill their weekly budget just by filling up their tank. It’s insane to spend $75 for a trip to the gas station and it’s terrible for our economy.
You should know that 68 cents on every one of those gallons is an added tax thanks to both Sacramento and Washington. I’ve been a vigorous opponent of this tax from the start, and it especially makes no sense when Sacramento’s running a massive budget surplus.
They should put that money back into our pockets and stop taxing our families when gas prices are out of control. I’m calling on Sacramento and Washington to suspend the gas tax and figure out a way to get rid of it all together.
Good-paying Valley jobs
We also need to tackle the other side of this economic balancing act and get wages up.
Last month, I helped pass a bipartisan bill to fund tens of thousands of construction projects. Now, I’m focused on making sure those projects come to the Valley. Projects like building the Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir and a new Seventh Street Bridge in Modesto, and getting road repairs done on Highway 99.
Every road, bridge, and water project we build means new, good-paying jobs. And you won’t need a college degree for a majority of them.
Everyone in our Valley deserves the economic security my parents enjoyed when they decided to raise our family here. I’m committed to doing everything in my power so the next generation can afford the life our parents gave us. It’s what our Valley has always been about.