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Statement

✓ Roads and Bridges. ✗ Child Care, Paid Family/Medical Leave, Child Poverty, Home-Based Services.

November 15, 2021
Workplace Justice, Paid Family & Medical Leave, Maternal Health, Early Care & Education, Federal Budget, Health Care, Immigration

Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996

Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO, at MomsRising, the online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on the imperative for Congress to pass the Build Back Better Reconciliation bill now:

“America’s moms are thrilled to see President Biden sign the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law this afternoon. It is a major and unprecedented accomplishment that will not only improve our roads and bridges but also ensure more children and families have safe drinking water, more families have Internet access, more of us can breathe clean air, and many more of us have good-paying jobs. While this is a huge and long overdue accomplishment, lawmakers’ work is not nearly done. America’s moms, parents, and caregivers have long been sounding the alarm about the urgent need to build a care infrastructure to lift families, businesses, and our economy.

“We are counting on Congress to pass the Build Back Better reconciliation bill, which will boost businesses, our families and economy as it:

  • Cuts child care costs in half for most families,

  • Provides four weeks of paid family/medical leave,

  • Makes preschool free for three- and four-year-olds,

  • Expands access to home-based services for older Americans and people with disabilities,

  • Reduces the number of children living in poverty by extending the expanded Child Tax Credit,

  • Improves access to health care,

  • Cuts the cost of prescription medications,

  • Helps end our country’s Black maternal health crisis,

  • Raises wages for care workers, and

  • Provides lasting protections for those in our immigrant communities.

“The moms, dads, and caregivers of America are counting on Congress to build a care infrastructure, because just like people need bridges and roads to drive on to go to work, people need a care infrastructure so parents and caregivers can go to work -- and keep their jobs when a new baby arrives or a serious health crisis occurs -- and so children can thrive, and care workers can earn living wages.

“Build Back Better lowers costs for families, which helps stop inflation. It also creates jobs, and makes good jobs better jobs. And by lowering family costs, and ensuring parents and immigrants can work, we can fix labor shortages and stop inflation.

“Only when Congress finishes that work will our country finally have the care infrastructure all families need and the just recovery from the pandemic we all deserve. Moms will continue speaking out and pressing for the progress we need until that work is done.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. 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, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.