James Talarico

I, as a millennial, I think Gen Z in particular,

a lot of us feel like home ownership is something completely out of reach.

And owning your first home is such a critical part of the American dream.

There's like a sequence to the dream and the home is right there at the beginning because if you don't, if you can't afford a home, it's hard to start a family, have kids, put down roots, build wealth.

And so the fact that we have locked young people out of that American dream, I think it should it should be an urgent priority for all of us to start addressing housing in particular.

And I've done it here in Texas.

We passed a major bill to allow for something called single stair housing complexes.

This is a kind of housing that's built in almost every other country around the world.

But our outdated building code here in Texas doesn't allow for it.

And these are things like condos, right?

Kind of an easier entry point into home ownership.

And it was just a regulation that didn't make any sense anymore.

Some people said it was for fire safety, but there are ways now that you can ensure fire safety while also building these complexes that only have one staircase.

And so we just repealed that part of the code, Republicans and Democrats.

It was my bill and we got it passed.

And now Texas is going to start building those more affordable complexes.

So I would focus laser-like on affordability, not just groceries, although repealing the Trump tax cuts has to be a top priority so we can bring down the cost of food, but also the big structural costs in the economy, housing, childcare, prescription drugs and healthcare.

I think that should be an urgent national priority.

if we're able to build a Senate majority for 2027.

Yeah, well, one, thank you, Scott, for always being a voice on this issue.