September 5, 2026
Dear Friends,
This weekend, families across the nation will take time to celebrate the hardworking men and women who keep our country moving every day. Labor Day provides us with an opportunity to stop and recognize the contributions of working people from all walks of life — from the healthcare workers who care for us in our time of need and the teachers who inspire our children to the farmworkers who harvest our produce and the truck drivers who bring that produce to our communities. This year, as Donald Trump’s cruel and selfish policies make life harder for millions of families, I’m committed to honoring our workers’ tireless efforts not only with words, but with real action that makes this country work for working people.
Before I headed back to Washington this week, I spent the previous five weeks traveling across our Capital Region to speak directly with working people and hear their concerns about the ongoing affordability crisis being worsened by Trump’s senseless war with Iran. Over and over again, I heard my constituents tell me that their wages don’t go as far as they used to — and the numbers tell the same story. One year ago, before Trump launched his war in Iran, prices were rising by 2.7% year-over-year while workers’ average hourly pay grew by 4%. This year, however, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent monthly report showed inflation rising to 3.5% year-over-year, while wage growth slowed to just 3.2%. Put another way, workers’ “real earnings” — pay after accounting for inflation — have actually decreased every month since April.
The growing weight of this cost-of-living crisis is falling heavily on working people here in our Capital Region and beyond. But rather than taking action to address the problems facing the American people, President Trump has dismissed them entirely, saying “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation…I don’t think about anybody.” Instead, Trump and his administration remain focused on petty nonsense that does nothing to improve Americans’ lives — from building a White House ballroom to renaming Lake Ontario.
Trump and his Republican allies aren’t simply ignoring the affordability crisis, however — they’re actively making it worse. Trump has refused to end his pointless military venture in Iran, causing gas prices to keep skyrocketing and forcing families to pay higher home energy bills. His reckless tariffs — by now imposed on nearly all U.S. trading partners — have cost the average U.S. household up to $1,000 in higher prices each year of his second term, with even greater increases on the way thanks to Trump’s newly launched trade war with Canada.
His vendetta against the offshore wind industry has threatened thousands of jobs here in New York State as he spends billions of taxpayer dollars to cancel existing projects. His broader economic policies have led to the loss of 150,000 American manufacturing jobs. And his violent, deadly crackdown on immigration has removed 1.6 million people from the U.S. labor force, leaving countless positions empty with neither American workers nor anyone else able to fill them. All of these actions have led directly to rising inflation, falling wages, and slower growth — in short, an economic disaster for working Americans.
This week, I returned to Washington ready to get to work addressing the pressing issues facing American families. But unfortunately, Republicans had other plans. Instead of taking action to cut inflation or boost wages for struggling Americans, House Republicans advanced a series of meaningless “messaging bills,” including a resolution condemning “socialism in all its forms” and the vicious voter suppression bill known as the “SAVE America Act,” both of which GOP leaders knew would be dead on arrival in the Senate. After accomplishing nothing whatsoever for working people, Republicans then promptly canceled all legislative business for the last two weeks of September — giving themselves an extended vacation and leaving the American people out in the cold.
The attitude of Donald Trump and his allies toward working Americans can perhaps best be summed up by Trump’s Truth Social post last June, where he declared that there are “too many non-working holidays in America,” claiming that “workers don’t want [them] either!” The same man who spends the bulk of his waking hours golfing and designing his gilded ballroom evidently believes other Americans just aren’t working hard enough.
While Trump enriches himself amid the growing wreckage of the American economy and House Republicans lounge on vacation, know that my Democratic colleagues and I are continuing to work tirelessly to provide relief to you and your family. I hope you enjoy a wonderful long holiday weekend with your friends and loved ones. You’ve earned that holiday, and no one — not Donald Trump or anyone else — can take it from you.
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
My office and I are working to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations from governments and agencies. With that in mind, here is some information that may be of interest to you:
- The application cycle for the 2027-28 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program is now officially open!
- This program, jointly funded and managed by the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag since 1983, offers 300 full merit-based scholarships for American high school students to spend an academic year in Germany as cultural ambassadors.
- This exciting program covers all costs to participate in program activities, and offers accepted students a wide range of activities and benefits, including:
- Placement with a carefully selected German host family
- Admission to a German high school
- Language lessons upon arrival in Germany
- Cultural excursions to German cities and meetings with U.S. and German government officials
- If you or someone you know is interested in applying for this opportunity, you can click HERE for more information about the program, or click HERE to learn how to apply!
