On the recordMarch 26, 2025
the bill that Senate Republicans have brought to the floor today and which we will vote on sometime soon is the latest example of the ``great betrayal'' in action. On the campaign trail, Candidate Donald Trump promised that he was going to help Americans deal with their pocketbook issues, kitchen table issues, and he said that on day one--day one--he was going to bring prices down; that he was going to bring down costs for American families. Well, costs are going up, and President Trump and Republicans are taking actions that will raise those costs on the American people even further, and today's bill is exhibit A. I want to take a step back and put this bill that we are considering today in context. You know, one of the infuriating experiences that so many American consumers have is the mountain of junk fees they face. These are hidden fees that are sometimes in very fine print in contracts. They are all these fees that get added to their bills, where they really have no idea what additional value they are getting for those fees because often there is no additional value for that fee or that the additional value is minuscule in comparison to the fee they are being charged. So people pay these fees and grind their teeth and essentially get ripped off. We also see many predatory lending practices, where financial interests prey on those who are living paycheck to paycheck.…
