Celeste Mercier

You see it every time you grab groceries or go shopping.

On and off the Bowdoin campus, people in Brunswick and across Maine are feeling a squeeze on their wallets, and this is especially felt by young people who are preparing to, or just have, entered the workforce.

It’s not just the extra 50 cents on things you see on the grocery shelves at Hannaford. Expenses quickly start to add up, from rent to paying off student loans or making a bigger purchase like a car or laptop. People who call Maine home need to be able to live, work and commute safely and comfortably—without having to sacrifice an entire month’s paycheck on the basics. Congress can help get the cost of living under control, and I’m working on a wide range of approaches to do just that.

First, student loans. Yes, they are often necessary to make higher education attainable for aspiring college students, but too many people are struggling under the weight of loan repayment and high interest rates. Student loan debt can put a decent apartment or saving for a rainy day out of reach. This is why I support bipartisan legislation to help Maine people tackle their student debt, like the Employer Participation in Repayment Act. This bill will allow employees to exempt up to $5,250 from tax annually in student loan repayments that their employer contributes on their behalf. Tax relief on student loan repayments will keep more money in workers’ pockets and also give businesses a high-value benefit to tout when they are recruiting employees.

Then there’s the cost-of-living across the board—which for most of us includes consumer goods and technology. Everything we want to buy these days is a smartphone, a smart dishwasher, a smart TV and all these products have price tags that keep increasing. The problem here is that our country imports too many semiconductor chips from China and the global market; we could really cut costs if we brought this manufacturing stateside.

So the good news is that Congress came together to pass the CHIPS for America Act, bipartisan legislation that I supported to improve federal permitting for chip manufacturing and invest in scientific research and development. This law brings manufacturing back to the U.S., so we no longer have to rely on foreign chips. It’ll mean cheaper technology across the board, while also creating thousands of jobs across the country. Lower prices and more jobs? It’s a win-win.

Lastly, the housing and apartment crunch demands attention and action. We all realize there is a significant housing shortage in Maine—some estimates have us at being 84,000 units short of what we need. And, even if you’re not an economics or business major, we all know when there is low supply and high demand, that’s the recipe for higher prices. By collaborating with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, we are working on a range of approaches to increase supply and reduce housing prices both in Maine and across the country. Whether it’s houses, condos or apartments, every time we get a new unit on the market, it relieves pressure on home prices and rents. So, we are tackling this issue from all angles.

Finding a house that fits within a tight budget can be extremely difficult, and, with the housing shortage, it is not getting any easier. When a bipartisan group of my colleagues teamed up to introduce the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act that would help create 1,500 affordable housing units in Maine, I knew I had to jump in as a co-sponsor. This bill would provide tax credits to state and local agencies to renovate or build new housing for those with lower incomes. It’s a commonsense expansion of policy that’s proven to create more affordable housing across our state and country.

Another idea is to take advantage of Maine’s abundance of historic or older buildings. That’s why I cosponsored the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act, which would give builders a tax credit for restoring or renovating old buildings, such as a historic Main Street storefront or an empty industrial shop, to create new living spaces for Maine people. Think of all the older homes and buildings we have in Maine that are underutilized, then think of the good-paying construction jobs and new homes we could see from such legislation becoming a reality.

Maine also has many rural farmhouses and large properties that could accommodate an apartment unit or a tiny home. My Republican colleague from Kansas, Senator Jerry Moran, and I had the same thought: What if we could incentivize these homeowners to rent out property and space they don’t use? So, we teamed up to introduce the Farmhouse-to-Workforce Housing Act. This bill would expand a grant program to provide rural homeowners with funding to renovate or build additional housing on their property.

This would help ease the rural housing shortfall, while also creating new connections within our communities.

We’re not going to drive down the cost of living overnight; it’ll take a wide range of creative and proactive steps to get us where we need to be and make those first years after graduation a little less stressful, where possible. These ideas I just laid out for you are just a handful of the solutions I’m working on right now so that Maine can be a home to you as you begin your professional lives. I am committed to continuing the important work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make everyday life more affordable for Maine people.

Angus King is an independent U.S. senator from Maine.