For Immediate Release

YONKERS, NY –  Last night, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (NY-16) hosted a virtual town hall on the affordability crisis with special guests Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Executive Director of Community Voices Heard Juanita Lewis. During the town hall, they discussed the ongoing fight to push back against corporate greed and the cost of living crisis to ensure that everyone can afford basic necessities like food, healthcare, and housing. This event came just after President Biden’s remarks targeting rent gouging by corporate landlords and the release of the administration’s FY2025 budget proposal, which would lower costs for prescription drugs, housing, childcare, utilities, and more. You can watch the town hall here.

Congressman Bowman opened the town hall by acknowledging the urgency of the affordability crisis. Though inflation has been slowing down since its peak in 2022, basic necessities like rent, groceries, utility bills, and healthcare remain unaffordable. The Congressman then gave a brief summary of the work he’s done over his two terms in Congress to combat the affordability crisis including: 

• Pushing for and to shaping the White House’s Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights

• Introducing his Emergency Price Stabilization Act, which would give the President new tools to investigate corporate profiteering and put limits on price and rent increases 

• Introducing his Heating and Cooling Relief Act with Senator Markey, which would cap household utility costs at 3% of annual income 

• Introducing his Ending Corporate Greed Act with Senator Bernie Sanders, which would tax windfall profits as another check on corporate price-gouging 

The Congressman also noted that the Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin costs at $35 per month for seniors and gave Medicare the ability to negotiate prescription drug prices, which will help approximately 130,000 Medicare beneficiaries in NY-16. Rep. Bowman and Sen. Sanders then discussed their efforts to stop various privatization attempts and cuts to Medicare and Social Security, the importance of cracking down on corporate greed to stabilize the cost of living, and their advocacy for a 32-hour workweek without a reduction in pay. Afterwards, they took questions from the audience about their personal experiences dealing with the cost of living crisis.

Rep. Bowman on the connection between healthcare affordability, school funding, and the cost of food and housing (at 42:15 in video):

“We have a healthcare system based on profit, not based on keeping people healthy,” said Congressman Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (NY-16). “And as a result of that, hospitals, insurance companies, drug companies, equipment suppliers, they’re all about making profits, not keeping people healthy and out of the healthcare system. And I’m an educator – I’ve watched, seen, and experienced physical education being legislated out of the school system. There are some elementary schools that do not have physical education classes. There are some middle schools that don’t have health classes to help students understand how to remain healthy. And then the issue of food insecurity and lack of access to healthy, affordable foods also drive up healthcare costs, because once the condition is acute, it is more expensive to receive treatment. So it’s a racket based on profit that’s connected to lack of access to housing, lack of access to food, and underfunded education systems.”

Sen. Sanders on healthcare affordability (at 14:50 in video):

“We are the only major country on earth not to guarantee healthcare to all as a human right,” said Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).  “You go up to Canada, you end up in the hospital for a month, you know what your bill is when you come out? It’s zero, and they end up spending half as much as we do per capita. So the bottom line is that healthcare is a human right and the function of the healthcare system should be to provide healthcare to all people, not to make the drug companies and the insurance companies extraordinarily wealthy.”

Juanita Lewis on the housing affordability crisis in Westchester (at 49:50 in video)

“We’re in a housing crisis and what’s happening in Westchester is not unique. We’re seeing this crisis across the country,” said Executive Director of Community Voices Heard Juanita Lewis. “And unfortunately, when we look at just Westchester County, over 51% of renters are rent burdened, meaning that they’re paying over 30% of their income on rent. Within that, about 28% are severely rent burdened, meaning that they’re paying over 50% of their income on rent. And that’s just unconscionable. We’re in one of the richest countries in the world and one of the richest counties in the state and we have such a disparity when it comes to housing… These are policy decisions and it’s all about having the political will to {change things}... There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, but we definitely want to see more… done to make sure we take care of the families that are most in need.”

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