Earlier today, MomsRising members, staff and volunteers stood with more than 30 organizations, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and numerous other U.S. Representatives, on Capitol Hill to send a message loud and clear that it is indeed #MissionPossible to build a strong economy for families, women and our nation.  Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising.org issued the following statement after the press conference, highlighting the importance of economic policies that help women and their families and make our country more competitive around the world:

“We need to build a nation where families and businesses can thrive together - and to do that - we desperately need to update our outdated economic security policies, including those related to earned sick days, fair pay, family and medical leave insurance (maternity/paternity leave), affordable childcare, retirement security for women, and more. 

“Around the country - businesses and elected leaders are catching on. From Facebook to Philadelphia to the US Navy and more, people are waking up and realizing that both businesses and families benefit when workers have access to earned sick days and paid family (maternity/paternity) leave.  

“It is a national embarrassment that the US is the only industrialized nation in the world without some form of paid leave for new moms, that childcare costs more than college, and that women—particularly women of color and moms—still experience tremendous wage hits every day. It’s a national embarrassment that in the US having a baby is a one way ticket to poverty for all too many families. In fact, a quarter of young families in our nation are living in poverty and having a baby is a leading cause of poverty spells in our nation. 

“These conditions are the product of a political system that undervalues and under-appreciates the contributions and needs of mothers and families. We must do better. When this many people are having the same exact problem at the exact same time, we don’t have an epidemic of personal failings, a failure to lean in, or “balance” issues - we have bad policies. 

“Bad policies that hurt families like those of Charlotte Brock, a DC-area mom and Marine Corps veteran who spoke earlier today on how the lack of paid leave hurt both her and her mother while they try to support and care for their families. We know the very policies we need to boost our families will boost our economy – they’re #Mission Possible and necessary and we owe it to moms around the country, like Charlotte.”

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Read Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner’s MSNBC op-ed: What moms really want on Mother’s Day.

Today’s event was organized in collaboration with more than two dozen organizations, including the following planning committee members: MomsRising, CAP, FV@W, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women's Law Center, Mi Familia Vota, Make it Work, and the American Sustainable Business Council. 

 MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable childcare, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many others.  MomsRising also advocates for better childhood nutrition, health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2013, Forbes.com named MomsRising’s web site as one of the Top 100 Websites For Women for the fourth year in a row and Working Mother magazine included MomsRising on its “Best of the Net” list.  MomsRising also maintains a Spanish language website:  MamásConPoder.org.