Washington, DC In an effort to help middle class families who are finding themselves squeezed between rising costs and stagnant wages, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today called for a change to new policies that will create better jobs at better pay, provide greater access to affordable health care, and put a college education within the economic reach of more Americans. Appearing at a press conference with Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senators Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) and Ken Salazar (D-CO), and Jenny and Andy Loomis, parents struggling with rising health care and education costs, Senator Reed and his colleagues highlighted the fact that President Bushs economic policies have put health care and college tuition out of reach for many middle class Americans and threatened their retirement security.The strength of the economy should be judged by the progress of its people. The Presidents policies have simply not produced broadly shared prosperity or greater economic opportunity for most families, said Reed, the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee. The President and his party are out of touch with the experience of most Americans. Higher prices for gasoline, college education, and medical care are squeezing the take home pay of millions of middle class Americans. Slow job growth and stagnant wages during the Bush administration have left too many families with lower incomes and contributed to the growing number of Americans without health insurance.To help end the middle class squeeze Reed called on Congress and the President to raise the minimum wage, end tax giveaways that reward companies for moving American jobs overseas, and give students struggling to afford the cost of college a break by cutting student loan interest rates and expanding Pell Grants.Despite the rosy rhetoric from the White House, the reality is President Bush has the worst job creation record of any President since Herbert Hoover, said Reed. A new report prepared by Professor Warren updating her landmark book, The Two Income Trap, shows just how difficult conditions have become. According to the new report, Increasing Pressure on the Middle Class: Never before have middle class families worked so hard just to break even. I wish I could say that the middle class American family has turned a financial corner, that it is now regaining its economic footing. I cannot, said Warren, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. The numbers are unambiguous. The middle class American family is caught in an economic vice, squeezed by flat earnings on one side and increased expenses on the other. Warrens report shows that in the last five years, American workers have seen their incomes increase at best only a little and at worst not at all. Costs, by contrast, are skyrocketing. Housing costs, the single biggest expense for American families, have risen 23% in the last five years. Health insurance costs have rising by 71%. College costs are up 44%. Under this Administration, were seeing our own economic position stagnate while we hear about tax cuts for the top one half of one percent of income, said Andy Loomis, whos struggling along with his wife to make ends meet for themselves and their family. I find it astounding that we are being pressed from every direction financially with no help from the Bush Administration. We think about our childs education costs, our own out of pocket health care costs, how to get to our daughters school or to work with record gas prices. I just dont know how most families are doing it.