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'Are Your Grocery Bills Lower?' Ad Targets Soaring Price of Eggs Under Trump
"While he is acting aggressively to lower taxes for the wealthy, we haven't seen that zeal to help the working class," said one union leader.
Feb 14, 2025
As Republicans in Washington, D.C., work to give the wealthy more tax cuts by targeting programs that help millions of American families, critics on Friday called out U.S. President Donald for his "broken promises to working people."
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and MomsRising announced in a Friday statement that they partnered up for an electronic advertisement in New York City's Times Square that is set to run 20 hours a day for two weeks.
AFT president Randi Weingarten said that even as Trump "campaigned on the promise to lower grocery prices," his actions since taking office show his true priorities.
"While he is acting aggressively to lower taxes for the wealthy," said Weingarten, "we haven't seen that zeal to help the working class."
"Has the president lowered food prices? No. Has he reduced inflation? Has he spurred job growth? No," she continued. "Instead, he reserves his real efforts for the billionaire class: cutting taxes on the rich, slashing federal funding for kids, and firing dedicated public servants, while ignoring the plight of working Americans who need his help the most."
"Americans deserve a leader who is listening to our concerns and working to make our lives better."
As The New York Timesnoted on the eve of Trump's January inauguration, he spotlighted the high costs of groceries during a campaign stop in Erie, Pennsylvania crowd last September and told the crowd that "we're going to get the prices down."
The new 10-second ad displayed at W. 43rd St. and Broadway asks, "Are your grocery bills lower?" and points out that a dozen eggs cost $6.55 the day Trump took office versus $7.55 today.
The Trump administration's antitrust enforcers face mounting calls to crack down on U.S. egg producers accused of taking advantage of the bird flu crisis to hike prices, boost profits, and consolidate market power.
"This billboard is not just an ad but a sign that the American people—moms, educators, healthcare workers, and more—are working together to ensure the president keeps his word on the real-life kitchen-table issues like the cost of eggs," said Weingarten. "No matter who you voted for, Americans deserve a leader who is listening to our concerns and working to make our lives better."
The ad's debut came after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced their budget resolution—which would slash healthcare and food aid to fund $4.5 trillion in tax giveaways to rich people and corporations—out of committee Thursday night, as Trump and the chair of his Department of Government Efficiency, billionaire Elon Musk, fired thousands of federal workers.
"What's happening in our country is no laughing matter to America's moms, who want the lawmakers we elect to reduce the cost of eggs, food, childcare, housing, and other essentials—not create chaos and hardship by handing the reins of government to unaccountable billionaires who are looking out only for themselves," said MomsRising executive director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner.
"This billboard is a reminder that Trump's fealty to the richest 1% can have a devastating impact on your safety, your family's future, and your wallets," she added. "The chaotic beginning of Trump's second term makes it easy to forget, but we have not forgotten his promise to address rising food costs for families across the nation. Moms, kids, and families deserve better."
Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, argued in a Friday opinion piece for MSNBC that "it may be unfair to hold a new administration accountable for broad-based price increases mere weeks after taking office. But Trump invited the criticism. Weeks before the election, he posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the prices of eggs and gas are 'OUT OF CONTROL!!!' and he promised that on 'DAY ONE' he would 'SLASH prices–so fast it'll make their heads spin."
"He consistently claimed he had a plan to bring down prices; now it's clear that he's stiffing the people he promised like so many lawyers and contractors before them," Jacquez wrote. "Americans are already taking notice. In a poll this week by YouGov/CBS News, a whopping 66% of voters said Trump's focus on lowering prices was 'not enough.'"
"Far from being geared to bring prices down, Trump's early policy priorities are likely to add to inflation," he continued, warning about the impacts of Trump's tariff agenda, the House Budget Committee's Thursday resolution, and Musk's "war on government workers, including the inspectors and scientists who monitor chickens—as an avian flu outbreak wreaks havoc on our egg supply."
Jacquez stressed that "if Trump were serious about lowering prices, then he'd be working to ensure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes, not receive a massive giveaway. He'd be cracking down on monopolies and large corporations that use their market power to profit off consumers, not shutting down the agency that protects them."
"Unfortunately, it appears that Trump has pulled off another con job," he concluded. "Only this time, instead of the Atlantic City casinos left holding the bag, it's American families."
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This FTC Was the Most Effective in Decades Thanks to Lina Khan
Under her leadership, the Federal Trade Commission consistently delivered for consumers, lowering costs and creating a fairer, more honest, and more competitive economy.
Feb 04, 2025
The first few days of the Trump administration have made it abundantly clear that lowering costs for the American people is taking a back seat to empowering billionaires and weaponizing the government to wage right-wing culture wars.
As Chair Lina Khan leaves the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), I’d like to highlight what service to the American people looks like by highlighting the FTC’s accomplishments over the past four years under her leadership.
Over the last four years, the FTC has consistently delivered for consumers, lowering costs and creating a fairer, more honest, and more competitive economy. Under Chair Khan’s leadership, the FTC took strong actions to make prescription drugs and other health care more affordable, improve access to housing, protect workers, help small businesses, keep kids and teens safer online, protect childrens’ and all Americans’ data privacy, and tackle threats to consumers created by artificial intelligence.
I praise and applaud the spectacular work of the FTC under Chair Khan’s leadership and thank the dedicated staff of the agency for their exemplary service to the American people.
Under Chair Khan, the FTC banned hotels and sellers of sports and concert tickets from charging American consumers junk fees, saving consumers $11 billion over the next decade. They finalized a rule making it simple to "click to cancel," ensuring that consumers don’t get trapped into paying for subscriptions they can’t escape. The FTC also obtained $1.5 billion in consumer refunds over the past four years, ranging from tax preparation companies to corporate landlords. And they banned noncompete clauses to increase the average American worker’s wages by $524 a year.
Chair Khan and the rest of the FTC fervently protected the personal data of millions of Americans by aggressively policing the illegal collection, use, and sale of consumers’ sensitive data. They banned data brokers from selling consumers’ location data, stopped health apps from sharing consumer health data for advertising purposes, and limited companies’ ability to profit from kids’ personal data.
The FTC stood up to pharma’s attempts to unlawfully inflate the price of lifesaving medications including EpiPens and inhalers. Their work reduced out-of-pocket costs for inhalers from $500 to $35 and held three of the largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accountable for engaging in anticompetitive practices that inflated the cost of insulin.
I praise and applaud the spectacular work of the FTC under Chair Khan’s leadership and thank the dedicated staff of the agency for their exemplary service to the American people. Their commitment to battling corporate greed and protecting consumers should serve as an inspiring example to the new administration.
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Warren Tells DOGE Chair Elon Musk How to Cut $2 Trillion in a Decade
The Massachusetts Democrat has proposals on healthcare programs, Pentagon contracts, tax reform, and more.
Jan 23, 2025
While U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has faced intense criticism and even multiple lawsuits, some progressive groups and lawmakers are also engaging, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday.
When Trump announced DOGE in November, he said the presidential advisory commission would work to "slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies." Warren (D-Mass.) on Thursday detailed 30 proposals that would cut at least $2 trillion of government spending over the next decade.
In a lengthy letter to the chair of DOGE, billionaire Elon Musk, that was first reported by Time, Warren highlighted that "you have publicly called for sizable cuts in funding—from $500 billion in annual spending to 'at least' $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending—although recently, you said you may not actually be able to meet that goal."
"I have very serious concerns about both the DOGE process and the policies that you have publicly discussed to date," she wrote. "With regard to process, as I raised in a still-unanswered letter to President-elect Trump regarding Mr. Musk sent on December 16, 2024, it is not clear that you and other DOGE leaders are able to identify and mitigate your conflicts of interest and adhere to commonsense ethics standards. As a result, the committee appears to be a venue for corruption, allowing well-connected billionaires to put government policies in place that enrich them while hurting ordinary Americans."
"I am disturbed by the dangerous proposals you have discussed and released to date: proposals from you and your allies to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans' benefits, and other programs."
"With regard to policy, I am disturbed by the dangerous proposals you have discussed and released to date: proposals from you and your allies to cut Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, veterans' benefits, and other programs that tens of millions of Americans count on and rely on are unrealistic and cruel. It would be outrageous to cut these programs in the name of government thriftiness while handing out trillions of dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations," she continued. "But, your broad point—that the federal government spends trillions of dollars on wasteful spending is correct. And if you are serious about working together in good faith to cut government spending—in a way that does not harm the middle class—I have proposals for your consideration."
The letter features several recommendations to cut spending at the U.S. Department of Defense, which has never passed an audit. Specifically, it says: negotiate better contracts, recreate a renegotiation board to challenge excess profits, stop using the military to perform civilian jobs, end corporate welfare for Pentagon contractors and foreign governments, instruct the agency to stop gaming the budget process, boost energy efficiency and industry competition, tackle repair restrictions on military equipment, and "avert wasteful government spending on plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site."
Warren also has suggestions for federal healthcare programs, such as curbing taxpayer abuse by Medicare Advantage insurers, engaging in more Medicare negotiations to lower prescription drug costs, supporting efforts to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers, quashing patent abuses by the pharmaceutical industry, exercising march-in rights to reduce medication prices, breaking up conglomerates, and keeping private equity out of the industry.
To save on education, the senator called for eliminating or reducing funding for the federal Charter Schools Program and making for-profit colleges ineligible for federal grant aid. On the taxation front, she advised fully funding the Internal Revenue Service as well as clawing back tax expenditures and closing loopholes for the wealthy.
Her letter further suggests keeping the federal government's cloud and other information technology markets competitive, reducing waste in unnecessary federal arrests and detention programs, and working with the Government Accountability Office, inspector general offices, and other watchdogs "to detect and combat fraud, waste, and abuse."
"DOGE's agenda has focused on limiting the size of the federal government to increase efficiency and save taxpayer dollars. As the list above indicates, there are many opportunities for identifying savings that would not hurt the middle class, and that would eliminate wasteful special interest spending," Warren wrote. "But focusing solely on cutting federal budgets is myopic and counterproductive, and misses key ways in which the government can cut costs for ordinary Americans, saving them billions of dollars."
"For example, the federal government should continue its efforts to target abusive surprise fees charged by businesses across the economy," she noted, pointing to rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, U.S. Department of Transportation, and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) targeting "junk fees."
Empowering the U.S. Department of Justice and the FTC "to break up monopolies and ensure competition would have extraordinary benefits for families," the senator wrote. She also argued that "DOGE should ensure that federal agency contracts do not create monopolies that can hike prices for small businesses and consumers indefinitely."
"By making the tax code fairer, DOGE recommendations could provide a roadmap for additional government revenues that could be used for important investments or to cut the deficit," she added, spotlighting the anticipated benefits of ending tax breaks and loopholes for offshoring jobs and profits, raising the corporate tax rate and the corporate alternative minimum tax rate, and enacting her "Ultra-Millionaire Tax."
"In the interest of taking aggressive, bipartisan action to ensure sustainable spending, protect taxpayer dollars, curb abusive practices by giant corporations, and improve middle-class Americans' quality of life," Warren concluded, "I would be happy to work with you on these matters."
Warren's letter followed an
MSNBCop-ed that Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote in December, offering Musk some recommendations, and a report that the watchdog Public Citizen released earlier this month identifying "what an efficiency agenda based on evidence, not ideology, would include," in the words of the group's co-president, Robert Weissman, who has formally requested to join DOGE to serve as a voice "for the interests of consumers and the public."
While some of Warren, Khanna, and Public Citizen's proposals could win bipartisan support, many would likely be met with strong resistance from the Trump White House and Republican-controlled Congress. As
Time put it, "Her missive might do more to make a point than spur an improbable collaboration."
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