"I felt trapped."
We're launching our Weekend of Action today to fight for families like Branisha’s. Will you join us?
Happy Friday, Democrats!
This weekend, we’re launching our “Stuff Costs Too Much” Weekend of Action — a nationwide mobilization dedicated to confronting the reality that everyday essentials are becoming increasingly unaffordable for working people.
But let’s make one thing clear: Trump promised to bring down costs on “Day One,” yet a year and a half later, everything is more expensive, and Americans are working harder and harder just to make ends meet. Between his war with Iran, which has caused gas prices to spike, and his cuts to healthcare and food assistance that have made life harder for working families, Trump and Republicans are directly responsible for stuff costing too much.
This reality hits working families, like Branisha Jones’s, especially hard as soaring healthcare and childcare costs make navigating daily life a struggle. Learn more about her story below.
Q: Branisha, you’ve shared how the compounding costs of childcare and medical emergencies have made it challenging for your family. Can you tell me more about your experience and the ways this has impacted you and your family?
Childcare costs are the new birth control.
Walking into the realm of 2-under-2 when needing childcare was a fever dream. Suddenly, I’m wondering if the career that I love is worth spending almost two-thirds of what I make to put my kids in daycare. Would it be better to stay home and get an evening job? Groceries are high, taxes for our mortgage climb, and birth control is, well, unreliable and costly in my case.
In 2023, I was excited to learn that I would be having my first child. It was a dream come true. My husband and I both worked full-time, and the costs of child-rearing were not yet apparent. It set in quickly when my daughter did not latch well, and the plan to exclusively breastfeed and pump went out the window. At about $40 a can for a can of formula that would last us two weeks, then soon just one week, and, as you can imagine, only days as she grew, an unspoken fear grew about our finances and food prices.
In the middle of this revelation, we were met with another issue: I was pregnant... again, five months postpartum due to the progesterone-only birth control pill not being a forgiving method of birth control. Needing to be taken at the same time each day for a new mother still tracking how many dirty diapers the baby had, it felt impossible.
My husband and I strapped in and held our breath, wondering how we would be able to afford food [and] a doubling of childcare bills for two children. It’s a complicated web that seems to want to devour us.
For a while after the birth of our second daughter, our family of four qualified for the WIC program, but after increasing work hours to keep up with daycare costs, we once again phased out of that help. But a new problem had arisen.
Desperate to add a guardrail to our family planning, I had an IUD (Intrauterine device) placed. It seemed to be the safest and most effective way to ensure our family wouldn’t grow any bigger until we were ready. For a year and a half, I suffered in silence with terrible cramps and irregular cycles that got increasingly longer. Then, finally, after waiting nine months to establish care with an OBGYN, I was able to voice my concerns. One ultrasound later, it was confirmed that the IUD was embedded in my uterus. My doctor said she could remove it and replace it, but I knew I wouldn’t be getting another one put in. When I finally made the decision to get it removed after months of two-week periods, I was told that the cost of an ultrasound-guided removal would be $592.
On top of that, there’s the $1,400 crown that my insurance says I “didn’t need,” having to pay an extra $600 out of pocket after already paying $800 for the procedure. It’s times like these when I wonder if I will eventually drown under the cost of living.
Q: Branisha, you’ve described feeling strapped with your finances between the rising costs of fundamental necessities — like childcare and unexpected medical care — and the limitations of saving money when those expenses are unavoidable. What do you want policymakers to understand about the structural barriers that force families to choose between their long-term health, their stability, and their basic survival?
I felt trapped. I didn’t have the money to address this healthcare issue. It was the cost of a month’s worth of groceries for my family. Should I have to suffer for trying to be responsible and failing? Surely an embedded IUD was a medical issue that I owed it to myself to fix, but I felt bad.
Adding on to the pain of dental dread, my husband has avoided the dentist for years, saying, “they just want my money.” I finally convinced him to go to the dentist. He has two teeth that need to be pulled, and the dentist recommended he get a bridge. All of this will cost about $2,500 out of pocket. I want to argue with my husband that preventative maintenance would have saved him money, but it’s too late for that. He hasn’t scheduled dental care, and he frequently says it just costs too much.
Our financial advisor friend, an older, kind gentleman, says to cut back where we can, don’t eat out, find cheaper cell service, cancel the Netflix subscription, give up the gym membership, and walk outside, use the snowball method for your debt, but that doesn’t help when a gallon of milk cost almost $6 and the kids drink two gallons a week. With daycare costing us a quarter of our income, food costs becoming a maze to navigate to stay within budget, and inevitable medical events, I often do not know where to turn for relief.
So, we continue to agree that things just cost too much.
Learn More About Our Stuff Cost Too Much Weekend of Action and Get Involved
Across the country, Democrats are mobilizing for our “Stuff Costs Too Much” Weekend of Action. Will you join the fight? Here’s how you can get involved:
Join us on Monday, June 29, at 7 PM ET for a National Community Call on Black Workers on Stuff Costs Too Much. Across the country, Black workers and working-class families are bearing the heaviest burden of the cost-of-living crisis. From skyrocketing rent to higher grocery prices, your hard-earned dollars are being stretched to the breaking point. This isn’t just about “affordability” — it is a fight for economic justice.
Join us for a phone bank on Saturday, June 27, starting at 1 PM ET, to call voters in states most affected by rising costs under the Trump administration. We’ll kick off the phone bank with an overview of who we’re calling and a step-by-step training for our new callers. After that, you’ll have dedicated time to make calls and connect with voters.
Working families are being crushed by skyrocketing prices. This Weekend of Action is our moment to expose the Trump administration’s failed economy and demand change. Use our Stuff Costs Too Much Graphics Toolkit, featuring ready-to-share graphics, to mobilize your network.
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Thanks for fighting with us! Together, we can make a difference.
In solidarity,
Jenny
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