The Republican Economy is So Bad Parents are Forced to Decide Between Buying School Supplies or Paying Utility Bills

Washington Post: “Tariffs and inflation are adding to the financial pain some parents are feeling at the start of the new school year.”

Pencils, highlighters, notebooks, lunch boxes, and gluesticks.

These are items on a typical back-to-school shopping list. But thanks to House Republicans, it’s also a stress-inducing list of items that have all gone up in cost in the last year.

Recent reporting by the Washington Post shines a spotlight on the increasing pressures being put upon working families, from surging utility bills, to housing costs, groceries, and now – school supplies. They are all contributing to a perfect storm of rising costs that are straining the ability for hardworking families to make ends meet.

The story of one mother in Illinois interviewed by the Post sums up the difficult choice more and more people are faced with today under the Republican trifecta:

“Whether to buy her 7-year-old daughter the school supplies her teacher requested or pay their electric bill, which shot up $100 in July and another $200 in August. [..] Those items, plus her surging electric bill and clothes and a backpack for her growing daughter, exceeded her monthly rent.”

REMINDER: Trump’s sweeping tariffs have increased the cost for school supplies by an average of 7.3%. Because of the Republicans Big, Ugly Law, consumers on average would see their energy bills increase by more than $260 per year in 2035. Inflation remains elevated, squeezing American families.

DCCC Spokesperson Viet Shelton:
“The start of the school year should be one of excitement for students and parents. But because of their broken promises and disastrous agenda that is jacking up prices on everything, Republicans have made back-to-school shopping season the latest reminder that they are not fit to govern and why voters will reject them in 2026.”