State Senator Jeff Irwin

06/10/2026

Inflation is up and is outpacing wages.

Attacking Iran has been a massive blunder for America and Americans. It has made us less safe and less prosperous while enriching those who own the oil and defense contractors, including the Trump family.

Inflation hit 4.2% in May, the highest rate in three years. Meanwhile, wages grew by just 3.4%. The paychecks of most American workers aren’t covering rising costs. They’re getting poorer.

It gets worse.

Gas prices alone have risen a whopping 40.5% (!) since last year, largely due to Trump's war on Iran. Grocery prices have spiked 2.7% on the year and analysts expect them to go higher as shipping costs rise due to fuel price spikes (again, due to the Iran War).

Remember that this is all happening because of the unilateral decision making of one man — who promised repeatedly that he would lower prices "on day one."

06/05/2026

This week, we passed my legislation out of commitee to build and rehabilitate more affordable housing by creating a state-based Low-income Housing Tax Credit.

This program would run parallel to the federal LIHTC program.

There are many, many actions we should be taking to tackle the housing crisis. This is one of the tools we need to increase housing supply and it is one idea that we can find bipartisan agreement on. In other words, this is one of the few ideas at the intersection of "important" and "possible" in the Michigan legislature, so I am excited to see it take this step.

06/04/2026

My bill to protect juveniles who work with the police as confidential informants was just reported out of the Michigan Senate Judiciary, Civil Rights, and Public Safety committee.

My bill requires parental consent for a juvenile to act as a confidential informant.

Here is a quick video of me explaining the bill when it was introduced.

06/03/2026

"Some retailers are already having to take action on their own, and some of them are rounding to the nearest 5 cents," Irwin told The Detroit News. "Some of them are rounding up and some down."

What are we to do in a world without pennies when our cash transaction doesn't land on a number where retailers have the necessary currency to give proper change?

I propose that we round down to the nearest 5 cents. This is better for consumers and research has shown that, because of current pricing patterns, consumers will generally lose out if we round to the nearest 5 cents.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/02/penny-shortage-rounding/90370209007/

05/22/2026

Did you know that instacart charges different rates to different customers or that Uber might try to charge you more if your phone battery is low? Have you seen electronic price tags in grocery stores?

Michigan needs new and better consumer protection laws to prevent price gouging and to address the new tactics that consumers are facing when buying goods online (or even in person).

05/20/2026

Priorities.

05/20/2026

As soon as the US Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, numerous southern states moved quickly to eliminate black representation.

The actions in states like Tennessee demonstrate why the VRA was needed to protect the rights of all Americans.

Here in Michigan, I stood behind my colleagues today who spoke in favor of bills to protect voting rights in Michigan.

05/18/2026

The circus of corruption continues.

Donald Trump just stole $1.7B from us — and he's creating a slush fund to reward his political allies.

I've never seen anything like this in my 50 years in politics.

It makes Nixon look like a boy scout.

05/17/2026

People and their children facing food insecurity is on the rise. Inflation and low wages are driving the problem; but, the Republicans in DC are making the problem worse by adding more bureaucracy and dysfunction to the food assistance people rely on.

Not only did Congress and the President add trillions to our national debt, they also attacked programs like SNAP, destabilizing families and food banks across the nation.

Here's more from NBC News:

Under President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” food stamp applicants are fighting to prove eligibility and facing questions about birthday gifts sent over Zelle. A crisis in Arizona offers a warning for America.

The number of people receiving food stamps in the state has fallen by around 50% as of March compared to a year earlier, including about 200,000 children who have lost their benefits, according to state data. Those numbers are showing up in the lines at Arizona food banks, some of which are seeing record demand.

Since the law was enacted last summer, about 3.5 million people have fallen off the SNAP rolls nationwide as of January, according to federal data. No state has seen a more dramatic drop than Arizona, which offers a window into what may be in store for other states.

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