Alex Padilla: “Madam President and colleagues, I am here to share some good news. This past weekend, California State lawmakers passed…”

“Madam President and colleagues, I am here to share some good news. This past weekend, California State lawmakers passed a package of legislation to lower the cost of living for working families. I say this is good news because every day, Americans continue to wake up to higher and higher prices in so many ways. We all feel it at the grocery store. Many of us felt it these past few weeks as we were back-to-school shopping. We, I think, are about to see it in our healthcare costs pretty soon. We are certainly feeling it in our monthly energy bills. I can give a lot of examples, but I want to focus today on our energy bills and what California is doing and what we seem to be doing here in Congress. I think it is timely because despite the fact that then-candidate Donald Trump promised to 'slash prices by half within 12 months,' the reality is that, today, not only are we not seeing energy prices go down, we are actually seeing them go up. That is right. They are actually rising twice as fast as inflation. So much for keeping your promises. Many Americans are struggling to keep up with these bills so much that they are now turning to payment plans just to keep the lights on. So in California this last weekend, lawmakers did something about it, and I think it is notable. Together, Governor Newsom and the legislature took several steps to strengthen our energy portfolio and lower prices for consumers.”