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Florida Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost criticized the "out of touch" Republican National Committee (RNC) for mocking his struggles to find an apartment in Washington, D.C.
Frost made affordable housing one of the key tenets of his campaign, which culminated in his becoming the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress. His struggle to find housing in one of the most expensive metropolitan areas in the country underscores the very problem he's made noise about.
Although Frost will make a $174,000 annual salary as a Congressman, he won't receive his first paycheck until several weeks into his term. He has also been open about his bad credit score, which resulted in one of his applications for an apartment being rejected.
Frost's issues finding a place to live are no doubt relatable to anyone who has relocated for a new job but the RNC mocked him for these struggles in a tweet on its "research" feed highlighting a quote Frost made recently about needing to "couch surf for a little bit."
You can see the RNC's tweet below.
\u201cFlorida Democrat Congressman-elect Maxwell Frost \u2014 whose salary as a Member of Congress will be $174,000/year \u2014 says he's "probably just gonna have to like couch surf for a little bit."\u201d— RNC Research (@RNC Research) 1672589490
The RNC's tweet soon caught Frost's attention and he swiftly lambased the "out of touch" organization in a tweet of his own.
Frost wrote:
"Lol. So out of touch that they don’t understand how renting an apartment works. Let me break this down."
“I don’t get my first paycheck till February and I don’t have a lot of money. When you move into an apartment, you pay first, deposit, sometimes last, and for furniture.”
You can see Frost's tweet below.
\u201cLol. So out of touch that they don\u2019t understand how renting an apartment works. Let me break this down..\n\nI don\u2019t get my first paycheck till February and I don\u2019t have a lot of money. When you move into an apartment, you pay first, deposit, sometimes last, and for furniture.\u201d— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@Maxwell Alejandro Frost) 1672590380
Frost later posted a follow-up tweet mocking the RNC for its failed "research" into just why he—like so many Americans out there—has had trouble finding an affordable place to live.
\u201cSo much for that \u201cRNC research\u201d \ud83d\ude02\u201d— Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@Maxwell Alejandro Frost) 1672590380
Others quickly joined Frost in criticizing the RNC's "out of touch" tweet.
\u201cThe fact that they tried to make him look like he didn't know what he was talking about just confirms how little they actually understand\u201d— Policy Prospect (@Policy Prospect) 1672704720
\u201c*will be*\nWeird how you don't understand that a 25 year old might not have as much as $10k or more needed to rent an apartment before he ever gets a single paycheck.\u201d— Victoria Brownworth #NotLeavingThisBirdApp (@Victoria Brownworth #NotLeavingThisBirdApp) 1672643164
\u201cBecause the GOP really understands how the working class collects their entire salary in a lump sum the day they are sworn in\u2026 \ud83d\ude44\u201d— Ron Miller \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Ron Miller \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1672674593
\u201cTell me you don\u2019t understand working people or the housing crisis without telling me you don\u2019t understand working people or the housing crisis. \ud83d\udc47\ud83c\udffc\u201d— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@Carlos Guillermo Smith) 1672685233
\u201cThe GOP will find any excuse to attack anybody who doesn't look or act like them.\u201d— The Unfortunate Truth (@The Unfortunate Truth) 1672690896
\u201cIt\u2019s almost like the GOP thinks everyone is sitting on deposit money, generational wealth, etc\u2026it\u2019s almost like the GOP hasn\u2019t heard anything Gen Z is saying.\u201d— Maya May (@Maya May) 1672692330
\u201cAnd the GOP wonders why Gen Z doesn\u2019t want to vote for them.\u201d— Thomas Gilbertie (@Thomas Gilbertie) 1672702810
Frost has said in the past that the reason why his credit score is so low is because he "ran up a lot of debt running for Congress for a year and a half." Although he worked as an Uber driver part time while campaigning, the money he made was not enough to cover the cost of living.
Frost isn't the only progressive member of Congress to relay their struggles renting an apartment.
In 2018, New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed she could not afford to rent an apartment in Washington, noting that she would not receive her congressional salary in time to rent an apartment before the start of the new Congress.