In my comments about the 2026 midterm election, I mentioned that the Democrats’ north star should be lowering prices for Americans, especially food and gas, but lowering the cost of housing, healthcare, energy, and childcare and education would be great as well. In this thread, I’m going to focus on these things, and other action items that don’t involve lowering prices.

One thing that comes to mind is the permitting reform bill in Congress now. The NYT editorial board and others advocate for it’s passage. The bill would speed up the permitting process for building energy infrastructure, including for renewable sources. This can expand access to renewable and other forms of energy, lower costs and increasing savings for Americans. I’m all for this, and I hope the Democrats pass this now, instead of getting greedy and trying to make a better bill when Democrats control both houses next year. (Right now, there is bipartisan support for this, which may not be there next year.)