The GOP must prioritize regulatory reform and local economies over big business to help everyday Americans, experts warn.
As the Trump administration and congressional Republicans work to lower Americans’ cost of living this year, they should be guided by a simple principle: All affordability is local.
Democrats and too many establishment Republicans still believe they create jobs, economic growth, and opportunity. When high prices pinch consumers, lawmakers often huddle with K Street lobbyists to determine what big business, big tech, and big banks want—and then implement those policies.
Yet corporate profits surge while working families’ monthly bills climb higher. Corporate consolidation makes life easier for lawyers, lobbyists, bureaucrats, and politicians but much more expensive for everyone else.
This pattern has repeated itself: Obamacare, federal student loans, subsidized mortgages, and the Build Back Better inflation bomb all doled out billions to insiders and middlemen while leaving everyday Americans holding the bag.
Instead of writing more checks this time, congressional Republicans should focus on rewriting the rules contributing to the affordability crisis. Federal regulations—mostly imposed by bureaucrats rather than elected legislators—cost the U.S. economy more than $2 trillion annually, five times the size of last year’s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation.
Reforming these regulations would lower prices, spur job-creating investment, and produce the broadly shared prosperity Republicans promised on the campaign trail.
Their first priority should be federal permitting reform—an issue the White House and Congress have been addressing. Despite progress in removing red tape, the response has not matched the urgency of the moment. The permitting process is wasteful, corrupt, and self-defeating, with federal agencies blocking critical infrastructure investments in energy, mining, defense, transportation, AI computing, and manufacturing. Sometimes it seems like the U.S. economy’s greatest rival is not China but its own government.
The nation lacks sufficient energy production and transmission capacity to meet AI-driven electricity demand. New rules must be streamlined, transparent, and fair—economic competitiveness and national security depend on these investments. A more prosperous, secure future cannot be built without them.
Housing is the second priority. President Trump has signed executive orders to reform regulations hindering new home construction. Congress must follow his lead. The inability of working families to afford homes has become a social crisis. Current housing regulations appear designed to drive up prices—benefiting well-off Boomers who view homes as 401(k)s with finished basements but catastrophizing opportunities for young couples seeking families. By some estimates, the U.S. housing shortage exceeds 4 million units. Federal regulations should not obstruct new construction or subsidize state and local regulatory barriers.
Federal rules also inflate costs across healthcare, education, business, and occupational licensing—areas where reform-minded lawmakers can act. Banking regulations must be restructured to favor community banks over big institutions. While outright bank failures remain limited, community banks are disappearing through mergers and closures: from 12,000 in 1990 to roughly 4,000 today. The FDIC reports 44 community banks closed or were absorbed by larger entities in Q4 2025 alone. These institutions are irreplaceable for growing communities.
Too many federal regulations treat all banks equally, burdening small lenders that only megabanks can afford. This squeezes resources from local financial systems critical to community resilience. In the AI era, the real-world economy increasingly relies on personal relationships, community solidarity, and interpersonal trust—resources Washington now undermines through its policies.
The American people are ready to make their economy affordable again—as soon as Washington lets them. Streamlining federal rules would empower Americans to build, drill, mine, invest, lend, and compete as never before. Lawmakers must recognize that a more affordable economy is local, cooperative, and human. Regulatory reform—from national infrastructure to community banking—is an investment in America’s most powerful resource: its people.
