As children across the Commonwealth start the new school year, Affordable Pennsylvania released new reports highlighting how the Trump administration’s policies are raising costs on working families and making the return to school more expensive.

 

Prices for school books and supplies have jumped nearly 10% in the past year—outpacing most other goods. Instead of working to bring costs down, Congressmen Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan, and Scott Perry have backed Trump’s tariffs that could push prices through the roof.

In addition to supporting tariffs that have driven up the price of school supplies, forcing parents to take on debt or skip necessities their children need to be prepared for the school year, these congressmen also voted for the Republican Tax Law that guts critical programs like SNAP and Medicaid that help working families afford necessities and manage their budgets, all to fund bigger tax breaks for billionaires. In Pennsylvania, nearly 58% of SNAP recipients are in families with children and about 40% of all Pennsylvania children rely on Medicaid to access health care.

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Read the full reports below