As Trump Imposes His Tariff Tax, Ignores Historic Levels Of Consolidation & Abets Monopolies, Schumer, Cantwell, Luján, And Senate Democrats Take On Skyrocketing Cost Of Food And Household Items
02.26.2026
Democrats Continue Year-Long Push On Affordability That Began With Agenda To Reduce Housing Costs
Now, Democrats Shine A Spotlight On Rising Food Prices And Household Costs
Schumer Releases Report: “Trump’s Broken Promises: Devastating America’s Farmers And Working Families”
Read The One-Pager On Report Here
Read The Full Report Here
Washington, D.C. – As Senate Democrats continue a year-long push on affordability and finding solutions that lower costs for American families, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Senate Democrats hosted a roundtable with organizations and advocates examining how President Trump’s chaotic trade war and deference to special interests and corporations has skyrocketed the prices of groceries and other household essentials for American families, while also devastating America’s farmers and ranchers and straining small businesses and rural communities.
In Trump’s America, families are being crushed from every direction, facing rising household costs while deep cuts to SNAP and other basic supports are making it harder to afford the things families need most. During the roundtable, the Senators highlighted President Trump’s broken promises to bring down the cost of everyday items, including grocery prices. At the same time that consumers are paying more, farmers and ranchers are getting squeezed by corporate monopolies profiting off of consolidation in agriculture and food, leaving rural communities and small businesses behind. Instead of picking up the bipartisan work begun under the Obama and Biden administrations to fight this decades-long trend, the Trump administration is siding with big corporate power over farmers, workers, and consumers—raising prices and leaving working families with fewer healthy options for their kids.
This roundtable marks the second event in Senate Democrats’ broader 2026 Costs Initiative, launching a sustained push focused on addressing the economic pressures facing working families. Last month, Senate Democrats focused on lowering the cost of housing.
“Trump promised to bring prices down on ‘day one.’ But when American families go to the grocery store, they are confronted with the harsh reality that Trump has sold out consumers in fealty to special interests. Americans are feeling the pain of policy driven to support corporations, while leaving farmers, ranchers, and working families behind,” said Leader Schumer. “Senate Democrats know that affordability isn’t a ‘hoax’ – it’s something that every American feels when they pay their bills or make a trip to the grocery store. And Democrats are committed to finding solutions that address the root cause of these skyrocketing prices and work to sustainably lower food and household costs.”
“Donald Trump’s tariffs have put American farmers and ranchers under extreme financial strain. Costs are rising. Markets are closing,” said Senator Cantwell. “It’s time for our Republican Senate colleagues to stand up and do something about this. The President doesn’t care. But now, it’s time to find out if Republicans care about these farm communities that they represent.”
“Behind every statistic is a family, a senior, a veteran, or a working family struggling to make ends meet. While President Trump has personally profited more than $1.4 billion since taking office, grocery prices have continued to rise and Republicans have pushed through the largest cuts to food assistance in our nation’s history,” said Senator Ben Ray Luján. “Families are being squeezed from every direction, and President Trump’s economy is simply not working for New Mexicans. Democrats are keeping affordability front and center as we fight to deliver for families.”
Additionally – Today, Leader Schumer released a new “Broken Promises” analysis detailing how the Trump administration is raising costs, gutting markets, picking favorites, and siding with monopoly interests over working Americans – leaving farmers, ranchers, and consumers to suffer the consequences.
***
Below are quotes from roundtable participants:
Tim Wu, Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science and Technology, Columbia Law School: “‘There’s nothing to be done’ cannot be the answer to the affordability crisis.”
Joe Maxwell, President, Farm Action Fund: “I commend Senator Schumer for shining a light on how consolidation drives high food prices and squeezes farmers. One of the clearest examples is in meatpacking: when the same handful of firms dominate beef, pork, and chicken, competition breaks down, leaving farmers with too few buyers and families paying more. Concentration in seed, chemical, fertilizer, and grain processing markets makes the squeeze even worse, pushing farmers off the land. Today, we are losing 63 farmers a day to highly concentrated food and agriculture markets.”
Mike Callicrate, Member of R-CALF, Farm Action Local Leader: “It’s past time to enforce anti-trust laws and break up the meat monopolies like Congress did in the 1920s. Otherwise, consumer prices will remain disconnected from prices paid to producers and will likely keep rising.”
Basel Musharbash, Managing Attorney, Antimonopoly Counsel: “Like today, in the 1930s, a failure to enforce the antitrust laws had allowed corporate power to metastasize, leading to massive inflation even in the midst of economic depression. In response, Democrats in Congress and the Executive took five that we can and should replicate today. This was how New Deal Democrats solved the affordability crisis of their era and, in the process, saved this country from snake-oil salesmen and would-be fascists. This is also how Democrats can address the affordability crisis and save the country today. In short, we know what we need to do. We just need to do it.”
Michael Kades, Partner-Antitrust Litigation, Nachawati Law Group: “For far too long, market power has spread through food markets like a weed—choking off competition, squeezing farmers and ranchers, and driving up prices for American families. Restoring competition is essential to any lasting solution to high food costs, and today’s roundtable is a necessary first step.”
Ademola Oyefeso, International Vice President, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW):“Whether helping customers in the grocery store or shopping for their own family, UFCW members know that grocery bills are still too high. The Trump Administration has failed to bring costs down as promised, and now, corporations are looking for new ways to squeeze the most out of their customers. Surveillance pricing, the practice of changing prices based on individual customers, has become a potential tool to hike prices with AI, mass data collection, and electronic shelf labels. We need the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act to become law and ban these practices and technologies now. The UFCW will continue to fight to lower grocery prices for families and work to ban predatory pricing tactics before they take root.”
Lee Hepner, Senior Legal Counsel, American Economic Liberties Project: “If you want to understand why we have an affordability crisis, focus on concentrated markets and the sophisticated tools large corporations are using to replace beneficial competition with consumer deception. No one expects a fair price from pulling the lever of a slot machine, yet we seem to be okay with the real economy being run like a casino. This technology is incapable of self-regulation and Congress has a duty to deliver affordability through reliable and transparent prices.”
Vishwesh Bhatt, chef of Chai Pani in DC and member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition: “Rising food costs aren’t theoretical for independent restaurants — they show up on our invoices every single week. When produce, protein, coffee, and specialty ingredients jump 10 or 15 percent, we can’t simply pass those costs on without risking our customers or our survival. Independent restaurants are forced into impossible choices: raise prices and lose trust or absorb costs and watch already-thin margins disappear. These pressures don’t just affect menus — they affect jobs, wages, and whether a neighborhood restaurant can keep its doors open. We’re grateful to Leader Schumer, Senators Luján and Cantwelll for recognizing these realities and for engaging directly with independent restaurant owners about what it actually takes to keep our businesses and our teams afloat.”
Erika Polmar, Executive Director of the Independent Restaurant Coalition: “Independent restaurants operate on margins so thin that even modest food cost increases can be destabilizing. When inflation hits the ingredients operators rely on most — proteins, seafood, coffee, produce — it squeezes every part of the business, from payroll to pricing to long-term viability. These businesses employ more than 11 million people and anchor local economies nationwide. We’re grateful to Leader Schumer, Senators Luján and Cantwelll for their leadership and for taking the time to understand the real, on-the-ground economics facing independent restaurants and bars across the country.”
Ty Jones Cox, Vice President for Food Assistance, Center for Budget Policy and Priorities: “SNAP is our nation’s most effective tool to combat hunger. Instead of shoring up this vital program that helps families afford groceries, Republicans in Congress enacted the largest cuts in the program’s history, including a cost shift to states and localities that could end SNAP altogether in some states. Hundreds of thousands of low-income people have already lost their food assistance, and millions more will soon see their SNAP benefits cut or eliminated as the full brunt of these cuts take effect. Congress must act urgently to address this unfolding crisis.”
Rob Larew, President, National Farmers Union: “Unpredictable trade policies and corporate consolidation are squeezing family farmers on one end and consumers on the other. The farmer’s share of the food dollar is near historic lows, even as monopolies profit and grocery prices climb. Farmers and families deserve better—and that starts with restoring fairness to our food system.”
***
Below is a transcript of Leader Schumer’s remarks at the roundtable:
“Now, this roundtable is our latest event in Senate Democrats’ Lower Costs Initiative—this initiative that’s going to continue throughout this year, not only because we feel it’s important, but more importantly, the American people feel it’s important. In Trump’s America, families are being crushed in every direction and today we’re focused on food prices and household costs. But of course, last month, we focused on housing. And you’ll see us focusing on other issues in the months to come. But families are facing rising household costs, while deep cuts to SNAP and other basic supports are making it harder to afford things that families need most. Every trip to the grocery store is a reminder that food prices are still too high. Now, what did Trump promise when he ran for office? He promised that, if elected, he said, “grocery prices will come tumbling down.” Those are his words. That’s his words.
“Well, on Tuesday, during the State of the Union, the president assured that costs are coming down. He’s simply lying to the American people when it comes to food costs and household costs. Prices are up, up, up. Beef up 16.4%. Coffee up 19.8% since last year. And this past year has been nothing but full of broken promises about food prices, household goods prices from Trump, and prices in general. He calls the whole thing on affordability a hoax—what an insult to a family that can’t afford to adequately feed their children. What a—got to curb myself—what an insult. I was going to use an adjective that began with F, I won’t.
“Instead of real relief for working people, what did Trump give us? A chaotic trade war that only raised prices for families. It devastated farmers. It devastated ranchers. It hurts small businesses like grocers and restaurants. I’ve been all across New York talking to restaurateurs who are having big trouble in both ways. In one way that they can’t afford some of the stuff they need, and in the other, since their customers have less money, they’re showing up less at these restaurants. He’s doing nothing to stop the corporate monopolies that are undercutting farmers and ranchers and raising prices for consumers. The corporate monopolies have pushed farmers and small businesses to bankruptcy and crushed rural communities. We’ll hear more about that from Maria [Cantwell] and Ben [Ray Luján]. Instead of picking up the bipartisan work begun under the Biden and Obama administrations to fight this decade-long trend, the Trump administration’s policies actively encourage monopolies. They like monopolies. They like the big shots, often for the corrupt reason that these people give them all kinds of campaign contributions and even shares in their own businesses, self-enriching them. Now, the Trump administration’s policies have actively encouraged monopolies.
“Today’s roundtable is about understanding the forces driving up food prices and household costs and what Congress can now do to fix the damage and build a fairer and more competitive food system. We’ll hear from experts. This is a great panel. Those of you who know this area know what a fabulous panel this is. Those of you who don’t will learn it soon. We’re going to hear from experts, advocates, workers, farmers, small business owners about what they’re seeing on the ground and what we should do to deliver change. And as part of this roundtable, we are releasing a report today: “Trump’s Broken Promises: Devastating America’s Farmers and Working Families.” In each area we cover, we’re listing—we’re putting out a broken promises report. You may have read the one we’ve done on housing last month. I’m grateful to my colleagues for their leadership and partnership on this issue and for joining this important conversation. Particular thanks to Senators Cantwell and Luján for leading the discussion today and for doing so much in these areas.”