民主党赢回国会：物价能降吗？

Tom Green, a software engineer in Ohio, has been unemployed for seven months after sending out 500 resumes and getting only 12 interviews.

On midterm election day, the 29-year-old voted for the Democratic Senate candidate and the Democratic candidate for governor.

In his own words, the economy doesn't look good—at least from his perspective.

The job he lost seven months ago paid an annual salary of $89,000.

It was voters like these who sent Democrats to Congress, sweeping both the House and Senate and making lowering the cost of living their top promise.

According to election vote counts, Democrats won at least 54 Senate seats and flipped more than 20 House districts from the Republicans.

The trend in Ohio is clearest: Democrat Sherrod Brown won back a Senate seat.

In the same state, Democrat Amy Acton was also elected governor.

What voters feel most directly is the gap in the data: in the 12 months through September, the inflation rate was 3.7 percent.

According to Labor Department data, in the 12 months through October, average income grew 3.1 percent, failing to keep up with prices.

Hiring is also cooling; over the past three months, an average of 137,000 jobs were added each month, and the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent.

Mortgage rates are around 7 percent, and in September the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point.

Most bills in the Senate need 60 votes to pass; this threshold is called the filibuster.

Democrats have only 54 seats, so the remaining votes must be borrowed from the Republicans.

Even if a bill gets through Congress, President Trump still has veto power.

The war in Iran and tariffs have pushed up prices, and neither of these matters is up to Congress.

Debbie Dingell, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, is involved in finalizing the House's legislative priorities.

She said early goals include restoring cuts to Medicaid and subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.

Dingell said House Democrats will first roll out a 100-hour agenda, then a 100-day agenda.

But efforts to push down the cost of living could themselves backfire.

Tightening regulations on AI data centers would drag down current growth, while expanding welfare spending could push up inflation and the deficit.

Local gains are more concrete: Democrats won both the governor's office and both chambers of the state legislature in at least six states.

Jocelyn Benson of Michigan promised a $5,000 tax credit for caregivers and to raise the minimum annual salary for teachers to $60,000.

On January 3, Democrats will formally take control of both chambers of Congress.

The bill Green cares about is ultimately still stuck at the 60-vote threshold.