The biggest news this past week was the Supreme Court deciding that the President does not have the authority to use emergency power to impose tariffs on foreign products. Our constitution is clear in giving the “power of the purse” to Congress. The tariffs increased our cost of living because much of what we all buy is imported. However, we can’t expect to see immediate reduction in prices because still unclear is what will happen with the President using different authority to impose different tariffs. Importers have already paid the “emergency” tariffs for their existing stocks, so any price reductions will take a long time to work their way down to consumers. Very important too is that the uncertainty related to tariffs means that companies don’t really know how best to respond. We don’t yet know if we will personally get any refund from having paid higher prices because of these illegal tariffs.
A lot of currently proposed legislation in Virginia targets reducing the cost of living. This is particularly difficult to do this year, because of the massive removal of federal dollars that helped support Medicaid and SNAP. Additional state money is needed this year just to maintain current support. Lowering costs on such things as health insurance and medical care are particularly challenging to our legislators.
A lack of affordable housing is a big problem in Virginia, including in our local area. Several legislative bills are being considered to help create reasonable housing alternatives, and to protect renters. Of course, some opposition is expected from those who are benefiting from high housing costs (which often includes landlords and property developers). It is very common too that residents oppose adding lower valued homes, and more poor people, to their neighborhoods.
Perhaps the most active area of legislation now being developed is in controlling energy costs. Legislators from both parties strongly support more data centers moving into Virginia (as they help grow our economy), although many local residents are not so sure. But – new data centers need more energy – and developing more energy costs a lot of money. Some legislative efforts also focus on how we can make better use of the existing electrical grid. Substantial disagreement seems to center around how to pay for more energy. Should the developers of data centers pay for additional infrastructure and energy production? Or should we all pay higher bills to encourage the data centers to come here and help our economy? Opinions often differ too about whether we should all pay equally. Should we instead give a break to those who don’t have a lot of money to heat and cool their homes? Not a realistic possibility is to have a lot more energy produced without adding costs to someone (at least in the short run).
Of course, a light at the end of the tunnel is that as we shift to renewable energy (which seems inevitable – although the pace of this shift in uncertain), there will no longer be any cost for the fuel. We will always need to pay for the service infrastructure, but our power bills should eventually stabilize or diminish. Meanwhile, we need legislation to guide Virginia’s energy development while strengthening the economy. To greatly complicate our energy transition, tough decisions need to be made in an adversarial political atmosphere – with too much focus on finding fault rather than finding solutions. I am looking forward to the legislation now being developed move forward, and will watch to see what is promised, and who will pay the bills.
