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Trump dismisses soaring gas prices as ‘a little glitch’ of Iran war, but potential political costs loom

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Ten days into the U.S. war with Iran, Americans are starting to feel the economic fallout as oil and gas prices soar.

Gas prices skyrocketed to a national average of $3.47 on Monday, up nearly 50 cents from last week, according to data from AAA. Plus, oil prices on Monday surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 before falling lower later in the day.

President Donald Trump has dismissed the higher cost, telling ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce it’s “a little glitch.”

“I think it’s fine. It’s a little glitch. We had to take this detour,” Trump told ABC’s Bruce in an interview on Sunday before going on to tout the U.S. military campaign against Tehran.

In a social media post on Sunday night, Trump argued: “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace.”

Yet the cost of living remains one of the biggest issues heading into the 2026 midterms, where Trump and Republicans are seeking to maintain narrow majorities in Congress.

A poll released by NBC News on Sunday found Trump received his lowest ratings in the poll on his handling of inflation and the cost of living as 36% of registered voters approve and 62% disapprove.

On Iran, the NBC poll found a majority of registered voters (54%) disapproved of Trump’s handling of the matter.

Trump, on the 2024 campaign trail, vowed to bring gas down below $2 a gallon. During the first year of his second term, Trump routinely pointed to the drop in prices at the pump, including in his State of the Union address last month.

“Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor and was, quite honestly, a disaster, is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places $1.99 a gallon,” Trump said in his speech on Feb. 24.

Now, gas prices are closing in on $3.50 a gallon and are expected to continue to keep rising the longer the Middle East conflict lasts.

Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, told ABC News Live that Americans are currently experiencing “sticker shock.”

“Gas stations are seeing their costs go up in real time again today, as oil markets are jumping, and that’s going to be in another round of price increases over the course of this week, prices could jump another 15 to 35 cents a gallon for gasoline over the next three days, as long as nothing changes,” De Haan said. “And it’s going to be worse for the price of diesel, which could jump 35 to 50 cents a gallon, that would put it close to nearly a $5 a gallon national average.”

Some Democrats are seizing on the price jump to criticize Trump and the administration for the handling of the war.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has called for President Trump to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to alleviate the financial burden for Americans.

“American families are suffering from higher prices as the effects of Trump’s reckless war become pain at the gas pump and beyond as high gas prices trickle down making everything more expensive,” Schumer said in a statement on Sunday. “They cannot afford to simply wait and hope prices come down. The President has a solution right here at home, and he should use it.”

“Trump promised a Golden Age in America. Meanwhile. Republicans are crashing the economy, gas prices are out of control and the extremists are spending billions dropping bombs in the Middle East. You deserve better,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a New York Democrat, wrote on X on Monday.

Trump was asked over the weekend if he would use the SPR to bring some relief, but declined to say, instead criticizing former President Joe Biden’s use of the reserve. Biden released oil from the SPR several times over the course of 2022 as prices increased due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“I filled it up and he brought it down to the lowest level it’s ever been. We will start at the appropriate time, which is basically a gut instinct, we will start filling up,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday.

“Biden used them so that he could get some extra votes in the election,” Trump added.

Analysts previously told ABC News that the SPR is a “valuable resource” for the administration to bring some relief to Americans and assuage market fears, but likely wouldn’t be enough oil in the long term to make up for the 20 million barrels of oil currently being prevented from passing through the Strait of Hormuz every day.

Trump told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade in an interview on Sunday night that ships holding at the Strait of Hormuz need to “show some guts” and push through the channel.

Several war-risk insurers have canceled their coverage for vessels amid the widening conflict. Trump said the U.S. government was going to provide some risk insurance and guarantees, and if necessary the U.S. Navy would escort tankers through the strait.

Like Trump, several Republicans are contending that higher gas prices will be temporary.

“The prices will come back down as soon as we get out of Iran, as soon as we finish turning them into fish food, which will be pretty soon,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy said on Fox News on Sunday.

How long the Iran war will last remains an open question. President Trump initially estimated four to five weeks for the U.S., though he later said the timeline would be whatever it takes.

On Sunday, Trump told ABC’s Bruce: “I don’t know. I never predict. All I can say is we are ahead of schedule both in terms of lethality and in terms of time.”

GasBuddy’s De Haan told ABC News Live that the longer the conflict lasts, the more time it will take to see oil and gas prices to get back to their previous levels

“Every day the situation continues, it could add another several weeks to the recovery time,” De Haan said.

ABC News’ Isabella Murray, Nicholas Kerr, Soo Youn and Max Zahn contributed to this report.

Stocks close higher, reversing sharp losses after oil prices fall

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Stocks closed higher on Monday, recovering from sharp losses earlier in the day as markets whipsawed in response to developments in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The dramatic reversal on Wall Street came after U.S. oil prices turned lower on Monday afternoon. Crude prices settled at about $85 per barrel, unwinding a surge hours earlier that had reached as high as nearly $120 a barrel.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 230 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 1.3%.

The Dow had fallen as much as 750 points on Monday morning, before reversing those losses in the afternoon.

Oil prices fell into the red and stocks raced into the green after comments made by President Donald Trump to a CBS reporter, who posted on X that the president had said “the war is very complete, pretty much.”

Crude markets began to calm on Monday morning amid a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers about a possible coordinated release from their respective strategic petroleum reserves.

The G7 announced on Monday its decision to forego a release of reserve oil at this time, but traders appeared to view the group as willing to take such action.

Still, indexes fell worldwide on Monday as the jump in oil prices rippled through global markets. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index plunged 5.2%, while pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.6%.

U.S. crude oil prices hovered at about $85 per barrel on Monday afternoon, which marked a roughly 6% decline from a day earlier. Since a month ago, however, oil prices have soared 34%.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. soared to $3.47 on Monday from $2.99 a week earlier, AAA said.

In a social media post on Sunday night, President Donald Trump downplayed the rise in oil prices.

“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!” Trump said.

Soon after the war with Iran began on Feb. 28, U.S.-Israeli forces killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.

Suspects in NYC mayor’s home IED attack wanted it ‘even bigger’ than Boston Marathon bombing, officials say

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City Saturday are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

According to a federal criminal complaint released Monday, both suspects openly pledged allegiance to ISIS while in the presence of police, and one suspect allegedly told officers they “wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing,” which the suspect noted “caused only ‘three deaths.’”

The explosive devices contained the volatile substance triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP, and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.

“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside the Gracie Mansion mayor’s residence with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.

One of the devices was ignited and deployed at protesters in a crosswalk on East End Avenue and East 87 Street, and the other device was detonated close by, Tisch said.

Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects, a black 2010 Honda with New Jersey license plates, parked on the Upper East Side of Manhattan near Gracie Mansion, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.

All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.

Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody are charged in a five-count federal complaint with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, interstate transportation and receipt of explosives, and unlawful possession of destructive devices.

The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, according to Tisch and the federal complaint.

The suspects were ordered to be held without bail after they made their initial appearances, both in shackles, in Manhattan federal court on Monday afternoon. They did not enter a plea to the charges.

“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said Monday. “Let me say this plainly: Anyone who comes to New York City to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable in accordance with the law.”

The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”

The anti-Muslim protest drew counterprotesters who called their response “Run Nazis Out of New York City,” according to the criminal complaint.

“FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the matter with our partners at NYPD as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,” the FBI said in a statement Sunday.

Balat and Kayumi are suspected of attending the event as part of the counterprotest to the anti-Muslim demonstration, authorities said Monday.

Neither Mamdani nor his wife, Rama Duwaji, were in Gracie Mansion when the incident occurred, the mayor said Monday.

Immediately following his arrest, Kayumi was asked by someone in the surrounding crowd why he allegedly attempted to bomb the protest, according to the complaint.

“Kayumi responded in part and as captured on NYPD body-worn camera footage, ‘ISIS,'” the complaint states.

Balat waived his Miranda rights to remain silent following his arrest, according to the complaint, and allegedly provided a written statement in which he “pledge[d] [] allegience [sic] to the Islamic State,” the complaint states.

Balat also allegedly told police that “they wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which Balat noted caused only ‘three deaths,'” according to the complaint.

The April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing also left more than 500 people injured.

Kayumi, whom the complaint said also waived his Miranda rights, allegedly “stated, in substance and in part, that he was affiliated with ISIS; watched ISIS propaganda on his phone; and was partly inspired to carry out his actions that day by ISIS,” according to the complaint.

“Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home,” Mamdani said at Monday’s news conference.

“While I found this protest appalling. I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Ours is a free society, where the right to peaceful protest is sacred. It does not only belong to those we agree with. It belongs to everyone,” Mandani added.

Many of the counterprotesters on Saturday confronted the “display of bigotry,” the mayor said. He also praised NYPD officers who swiftly responded to the incident and arrested the suspects, saying they were “faced with a chaotic situation that quickly could have become far more dangerous.”

The mayor specifically cited the “courageous and selfless” acts of two NYPD officers, Assistant Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro, who attended Monday’s news conference. Mamdani said the officers “ran towards the danger so that others could run safely.”

Tisch said the last incident in New York City in which an IED was deployed occurred in December 2017, when Akayed Ullah detonated a homemade bomb he had strapped to his torso in a pedestrian underpass connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Time Square subway station.

Ullah, a permanent resident of Bangladesh who was living in Brooklyn at the time, was the only person injured in the act, which federal prosecutors said was committed on behalf of ISIS of Iraq. Ullah was convicted in April 2021 by a federal jury on all six counts of the indictment and was sentenced to life in prison.

Stocks tumble as oil climbs above $95 per barrel

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Stocks tumbled on Monday as oil prices climbed in response to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 460 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched down 0.2%.

The major indexes recovered some of their earlier losses on Monday, however, after oil price hikes cooled. Oil markets settled amid a meeting among Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers about a possible coordinated release from their respective strategic petroleum reserves.

The G7 announced on Monday its decision to forego a release of reserve oil at this time, but markets appeared to view the group as willing to take such action.

The Dow fell as much as 750 points on Monday morning, before paring some of its losses in the afternoon.

Indexes fell worldwide on Monday as the spike in oil prices rippled through global markets. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index plunged 5.2%, while pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.6%.

Oil prices climbed as traders feared a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global oil supply.

U.S. crude oil prices hovered at about $95 per barrel on Monday afternoon, which marked a nearly 5% hike. Since a month ago, oil prices have soared a staggering 50%.

Oil prices climbed as high as nearly $120 per barrel overnight, but retreated after the Financial Times reported G7 finance ministers would meet to discuss a possible coordinated release from their respective strategic petroleum reserves.

After the meeting, oil prices fell further but remained higher than where they stood a day prior.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. soared to $3.47 on Monday from $2.99 a week earlier, AAA said.

In a social media post on Sunday night, President Donald Trump downplayed the rise in oil prices.

Soon after the war with Iran began on Feb. 28, U.S.-Israeli forces killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Pentagon IDs 7th US service member killed in Iran war

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Defense Department on Monday identified another U.S. service member who died following the opening wave of Iranian retaliatory attacks across the Middle East, marking the seventh U.S. service member to die in the war with Iran.

Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, died Sunday from injuries he sustained during a March 1 retaliation strike on U.S. troops at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia from Iran.

“He gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country he loved,” Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, the top officer for Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said in a statement. “That makes him nothing less than a hero, and he will always be remembered that way. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”

Pennington enlisted in the Army in 2017 as a supply specialist and was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade at Fort Carson, Colorado. He is set to be posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, the Army announced.

Pennington was working at a strategic radar installation responsible for early warning against incoming missile threats, a critical node in the U.S. military’s missile-defense architecture, according to a source familiar with the situation.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump attended the dignified transfer of the other six American service members killed in the war’s opening hours, after an Iranian drone struck in Kuwait. All six were killed in the same attack.

Even as the ceremony underscored the war’s early toll, the president and senior Pentagon officials have been preparing the public for the likelihood that more casualties are ahead.

“The president’s been right to say there will be casualties,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes” on Sunday. “Things like this don’t happen without casualties. There will be more casualties.”

Hegseth cast the losses as a grim but familiar feature of war for a country that has spent more than two decades fighting in the Middle East.

“Especially our generation knows what it’s like to see Americans come home in caskets,” he said. “But that doesn’t weaken us one bit. It stiffens our spine and our resolve to say this is a fight we will finish.”

ABC News’ Martha Raddatz contributed to this report.

Anthropic sues Trump administration after clash over AI use

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Artificial-intelligence firm Anthropic sued the Trump administration on Monday over the Pentagon’s choice to designate it a “supply-chain risk,” legal filings show.

A spokesperson for Anthropic said the legal action “does not change our longstanding commitment to harnessing AI to protect our national security, but this is a necessary step to protect our business, our customers, and our partners.”

A Department of Defense spokesperson told ABC News: “As a matter of Department of War policy, we do not comment on litigation.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Explosives thrown outside NYC mayor’s residence probed as ‘act of ISIS-inspired terrorism’: Officials

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

The devices contained the volatile substance TATP and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.

“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects parked on the East Side of Manhattan, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.

All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.

Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody in connection with the devices will be charged with federal crimes, Tisch said. The complaint has not yet been unsealed.

The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, Tisch said.

“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Anyone who comes to NYC to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”

Stocks tumble as oil climbs above $100 per barrel

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Stocks tumbled in early trading on Monday as oil prices soared above $100 per barrel in response to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 720 points, or 1.5%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.2%.

Indexes fell worldwide on Monday as the spike in oil prices rippled through global markets. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index plunged 5.2%, while pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 1.7%.

Oil prices soared as traders feared a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global oil supply.

U.S. crude oil prices topped $100 per barrel on Monday, marking a staggering 54% increase since late last month.

Oil prices climbed as high as nearly $120 per barrel overnight, but retreated after the Financial Times reported Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers would meet to discuss a possible coordinated release from their respective strategic petroleum reserves.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. soared to $3.47 on Monday from $2.99 a week earlier, AAA said.

In a social media post on Sunday night, President Donald Trump downplayed the rise in oil prices.

Soon after the war with Iran began on Feb. 28, U.S.-Israeli forces killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Iran may be activating sleeper cells, alert says

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as “an operational trigger” for “sleeper assets” outside the country, according to a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies.

The alert, reviewed by ABC News, cites “preliminary signals analysis” of a transmission “likely of Iranian origin” that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.

The intercepted transmission was encoded and appeared to be destined for “clandestine recipients” who possess the encryption key, the kind of message intended to impart instructions to “covert operatives or sleeper assets” without the use of the internet or cellular networks.

It’s possible the transmissions could “be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert said.

“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness,” the alert said.

While the alert is careful to say there is “no operational threat tied to a specific location,” it does instruct law enforcement agencies to increase their monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity.

If the contents of the alert prove true, it would confirm the fears expressed by law enforcement officials after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran that sleeper cells deployed around the West could be used for retaliation.

Sen. Andy Kim introduces bill to combat illiteracy: ‘Reading unlocks life-long success’

March 9, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Senator Andy Kim, D-N.J., is aiming to tackle the nation’s literacy crisis with a new bill focused on increasing children’s access to books.

Kim will introduce his “Open Books, Open Doors Act” on Monday, urging the Department of Education to authorize $100 million in annual grants to states and local communities to combat illiteracy and what he calls the country’s “book deserts,” which is an area that doesn’t have reliable access to books.

“Reading is a powerful tool that every child in America should have,” Kim said in a statement to ABC News. “We know literacy and reading unlocks life-long success in school and out, but right now millions of kids across our country are living in book deserts.”

He told ABC News in an exclusive interview that he feels it’s his responsibility to pass legislation that helps more kids develop their reading skills.

“This is not meant to be a messaging bill,” Kim said, adding, “This is not just meant to put the idea on the table, like, I want to get this done.”

“I want us to be able to immediately be able to benefit the kids in this country as they grow up,” he said.

His legislation aims to ensure every child is positioned for long-term success in school and in life. Kim noted that illiteracy is dire, not only for children, but also for adults. When adults have difficulty reading, it hurts the economy and American families, he said.

If passed, Kim’s bill would use the federal education department grant program to support states’ efforts to combat reading rates while prioritizing the locations that struggle most with access to books and “high quality” reading materials.

Actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton, who for two decades helped young students get excited about literature as the host of PBS’ “Reading Rainbow,” endorsed Kim’s push to provide children with equitable access to books.

“We must ensure that books are easy to find and free to borrow in every neighborhood — because when a child can read, they possess the power to write their own future,” Burton told ABC News in a statement.

The reading crisis is widespread. Recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), otherwise known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” found about a third of fourth graders are unable to read above the basic level. Access to books and a decrease in students who read for enjoyment are major factors contributing to the country’s sliding reading scores, according to the legislation and education experts.

Education Department skeptics and government officials, however, believe the agency has too much spending power already — without achievement results.

After a vocal minority of House Democrats and education advocates decried public school funding for lagging national test scores, Education Secretary Linda McMahon noted that continuing to spend federal dollars on the literacy issue was the wrong solution.

“Instead of solutions to confront our nation’s literacy crisis, they [Congressional Democrats] defended the status quo,” McMahon wrote in a recent post on X.

“The solution: return education to the states and empower local leaders to focus on the basics,” she added.

The future of Kim’s legislation could ultimately rest with McMahon, who has been tasked with putting herself out of a job by shuttering the department. Kim, who sits on the Senate’s education committee, has been critical of McMahon since she was tapped to lead the agency.

Kim said he has “deep disagreements” with moves made under her leadership that he alleged harm kids and their opportunities in life.

The Department of Education has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.

On the heels of Read Across America week, the bill supports science of reading programs — the phonics-based reading approach — and early screening and intervention for reading disabilities. The legislation also establishes a federal clearinghouse that would identify evidence-based “book access” strategies to help advance literacy in local communities.

More than 20 education organizations support Kim’s bill, from the American Library Association to Reach Out and Read, a nonprofit organization that encourages families to read aloud together and provides books to millions of households nationwide.

Reach Out and Read CEO Lynette Fraga told ABC News having early access to books at home not only fuels literacy outcomes but also helps students thrive in life.

“If we think about early childhood we think about return on investment,” Fraga said. “We know that if we invest in the earliest years through things like access, through things like meaningful programs and child centered practices and systems, the return on investment is huge.”

Kim suggested that books “open doors” for millions of children. His bill currently has no co-sponsors — and its fate is unclear at this time — but he’s optimistic about support for this issue across party lines.

“I hope that all of us can get on the same page about increasing literacy in America and can see the value of that,” Kim said. “We are stronger as a society if we have a more literate society. I think everyone can recognize that.”

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