{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://vasquez.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-vasquez-unveils-affordability-agenda-albuquerque", "Rep. Vasquez Unveils Affordability Agenda in Albuquerque", "2025-08-27", "2025", "2025-08", "Democrat", "House", "NM", "Gabe Vasquez", "V000136", "vasquez.house.gov", "vasquez", "https://vasquez.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "August 27, 2025\n\nALBUQUERQUE, N.M. \u2013 Earlier this month, following a roundtable with community leaders, U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) unveiled his Affordability Agenda, a comprehensive set of policy solutions to address the affordability crisis facing hardworking New Mexicans. This Affordability Agenda comes as the cost of housing, food, health care, and utilities continue to soar under the Trump Administration \u2014 trends only exacerbated by the Republican tax law.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s getting harder and harder to make ends meet every month, and folks are increasingly facing really difficult choices, like whether to pay their utility bill or refill their child\u2019s prescription,\u201d said Vasquez, \u201cMy affordability agenda puts forward real policy solutions that bring down the cost of food housing, health care, and utilities for New Mexicans.\u201d\n\nPolicy measures in Rep. Vasquez\u2019s Affordability Agenda include:\n\nLower Taxes:\n\nOffsetting rising prices and offering a fully refundable 10% tax credit to households making under $100,000 in his Tax Relief from Tariffs and High Costs Act\n\nCreating tax policy that supports the middle class and workers, like his Boost the Middle Class Act to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit by 10% and index it to inflation\n\nSupporting efforts like the TIPS Act to make \u201cno tax on tips\u201d permanent\n\nExpanding access to affordable childcare and home health care by allowing caregivers to receive up to a $5,000 tax credit each year for expenses associated with their caregiving services in the Credit For Caring Act\n\nFood:\n\nFixing SNAP \u2014 not cutting it \u2014 with commonsense reforms like the Hot Foods Act to allow families to buy ready-to-eat meals\n\nSupporting federal funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which helps farmers and families by allowing commodities to be sent directly from farmers to food banks\n\nWorking with state and local partners to protect access to free school lunch programs and expand food assistance programs that serve seniors and Tribal communities\n\nWorking to ensure that efforts to bring down costs for everyday goods also make their way to rural communities in his Combatting Rural Inflation Act\n\nHousing:\n\nCracking down on predatory out-of-state investors to keep housing costs low in New Mexico with his Keep Mobile Homes Affordable Act\n\nStopping unfair rent increases by supporting the HOME Act\n\nEncouraging the conversion of empty commercial real estate into housing units through the Revitalizing Downtowns and Main Streets Act\n\nHealth Care:\n\nDefending Medicaid coverage for the 38,000 New Mexicans in the district who rely on it for the care they need\n\nUrging the administration to work across the aisle to lower drug costs and leave Medicare\u2019s ability to negotiate lower drug prices in place\n\nCapping insulin prices at $35/month for individuals with private insurance\n\nUtilities:\n\nProtecting clean energy investments that lower long-term utility bill costs\n\nFighting for the highest possible funding for programs like LIHEAP which help vulnerable households cover their energy bills\n\nThe Affordability Agenda was delivered alongside representatives from organizations on the frontline of New Mexico\u2019s affordability crisis, including Roadrunner Food Bank, Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless, Presbyterian Medical Services, Be Well NM, Rio Grande Food Bank, and more. Rep. Vasquez is working as a partner with those in the community to find practical solutions for the affordability challenges facing New Mexico.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T14:57:50Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://vasquez.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-vasquez-unveils-affordability-agenda-albuquerque"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.829906202852726, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}