As a Linden city councilman, I see firsthand how many of our residents are struggling to make ends meet. Local government has a responsibility to deliver vital services, but we must do so in a way that does not further strain their household budgets.
In the debate over electricity costs, this often gets lost: Rate increases have an impact on our residents directly and also hurt our ability as a city to deliver services as cost-effectively as possible. Simply put, it’s hard to keep property tax rates steady when electricity increases are impacting every department’s budget in City Hall.
New Jersey electricity costs are skyrocketing thanks to President Trump and MAGA Republicans like Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., who represents me and my 7th District constituents in Congress. Trump and Republicans are more interested in providing tax breaks for oil and gas billionaires than addressing the fact that household electricity costs have spiked 13% nationally and 16.77% in New Jersey since the president took office.
I need a partner in Washington who is focused on delivering for the residents of my ward and helping improve their quality of life, not increasing their electricity rates.
Nationwide, 84% of voters are concerned about electricity costs, according to a poll by Climate Power and the League of Conservation Voters. This is on par with concerns about housing, and only a few points below sentiment about groceries and health care.
Meanwhile, Trump has called the affordability crisis a “hoax” and a “con job.”
Credit: (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)In the summer, Kean was among those who rubber-stamped Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, effectively stripping New Jerseyans of access to clean energy cost-saving programs. This short-sighted legislation led to the cancellation of six clean energy projects in New Jersey, for more than $3.6 billion of lost investment in our state. In addition, Trump’s funding cuts have threatened at least $18 million in investments to make New Jersey’s electric grid more resilient to extreme weather.
Stomping out clean
We need more cheap, reliable energy, and clean is the answer. It is the least expensive and quickest source to add to the grid. In terms of meeting data center demand, some of the most rapidly scalable and cost-competitive solutions lie in solar energy, onshore wind, battery storage and efficiency initiatives.
Yet Trump and Republicans are cutting our clean energy supply, and New Jerseyans are seeing soaring energy bills.
Last year, Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli for New Jersey governor in large part because of her focus on reducing electricity costs. Her victory sent a message that New Jerseyans want leaders who will address skyrocketing utility bills head on and provide real solutions that make life more affordable. On day one, Sherrill delivered on her campaign promises, declaring a state of emergency on utility rate increases and signing two executive orders designed to lower prices.
Sherrill is doing everything in her power to deliver relief, but the federal Republican saboteurs are attacking clean energy, propping up polluters and dragging the country into expensive wars that drive up costs even more.
Trump and Republicans also threatened thousands of good-paying jobs. The clean energy incentives Trump and Republicans repealed had helped create family-sustaining union jobs at a higher rate than the overall energy workforce, and included prevailing wage requirements that protected the gains won by unions.
Unions have been a cornerstone of our economy for generations.
Killing jobs
Our workers build the power grid that keeps our lights on and fuels the industries that sustain our communities. After college graduation, I took a union job that enabled me to achieve a decent wage amid a devastating economic recession. When my father had a union job, he was able to live a middle -lass lifestyle, one that drastically changed once those union factory jobs went away. I know firsthand what’s at stake when we let politicians gut the policies that create good jobs.
At the same time that they are hiking our utility costs and slashing our jobs, Trump and Republicans are making our communities less healthful by rolling back critical pollution protections. In the first year of his second term alone, Trump gutted 31 such policies, and then weakened mercury limits for toxic coal-fired power plants.
As we approach midterm elections in November, voters should hold Kean Jr. and other Republicans accountable for making our lives more expensive and our communities less clean. New Jersey deserves leaders who will stand with unions, protect good-paying jobs and invest in the future that our workers deserve.
