Thank you to the Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Mamas’ Caucus for holding this hearing, for your persistence, and for your powerful leadership. I’m Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of MomsRising, which has 1.2 million active members, a list of nearly 4 million, and an audience reach that’s millions more strong. One in every 300 people in America are now an active member of MomsRising. We’re raising our voices, sharing our stories, and challenging the false – often absurd – narratives from President Trump and Republicans in Congress about moms.

As Mother’s Day approaches, we’re here to talk about the affordability and care infrastructure crises related to health care, child care, elder care, paid family and medical leave, disability care, food, gas, utilities, and more –  and about the terrible toll these crises are taking on moms, families, small businesses, and our economy. 

President Trump seems to think it’s a good idea to recklessly run our nation like a video game of Call of Duty, but moms know our leaders’ real duty is to open avenues for families to thrive. Moms also know the President is wrong to spread chaos; and is wrong to call the affordability crisis a “hoax.”  Moms know it’s all too real – and we’ve brought the receipts! 

Moms across the country are delivering their receipts to Congress, to show Republican leaders just how much their cuts are harming our families – how hard it is to put food on our tables and gas in our cars, and to afford health care, child care, and to give our children a good start in life.

Today in the United States: 

• A pound of hamburger costs more than a minimum wage worker is paid per hour – the federal minimum wage is just $7.25 per hour.

• The cost of child care exceeds the price of public college in most states – and more than rent in 17 states.

• Health care premiums skyrocketed after Republicans refused to extend the tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.

It’s no wonder families need the wages of moms to get by. But even moms’ wages are taking a hit: Over all, moms are now paid just 74 cents to a dad’s dollar, with Black moms paid just 56 cents and Latina moms just 51 cents. 

Here’s some of what we’re hearing:

• Christine in Oklahoma shared: “I have 1 full-time plus 2 part-time jobs. I am so tired…My house payment is $1,800 a month. All my utilities are around $300. My health care costs me $508 biweekly. My groceries that used to cost $100 now cost around $260 a week…I make $933 biweekly…Something is very wrong in this country when working Americans cannot make ends meet.”

• Laura in Tennessee shared: “Child care costs me $1,000 per month. My mortgage is another $1,200. Electric, gas, internet and food is another $1,000 per month. I can barely make ends meet, let alone save for emergencies or retirement.”

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg.  

And all this is happening as the U.S. has a too high maternal mortality rate, with Black moms three times as likely to die in childbirth as white moms, regardless of income or education. 

Make no mistake: The hardships families are facing are a direct result of the choices President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have made to cut funding for our priorities: Child care, health care, elder care, rural hospitals, SNAP, and other essential programs.

It adds insult to injury that Republicans are using our taxpayer dollars, which should have gone to our health care and child care, to fund reckless wars and human rights abuses against immigrant families. It’s a disgrace. Our nation needs a safe and orderly immigration process that balances compassion and security, not cuts to health care – and certainly not cruelty.

But Republican leaders are aiming for more cruelty by trying to pass a bill that does nothing to address rising costs, and instead adds billions in deficit spending to an out-of-control ICE.

This is not what parents or the country want. It’s not what our economy needs.  

Today as we approach Mother’s Day, and every day afterward, moms and parents are telling lawmakers we want our tax dollars to be used for the essential programs, including health care and childcare, proven to open avenues for our families and economy to succeed. 

Congress will be hearing from a King this afternoon. Tonight, King Charles will be wine-and-dined in a White House decorated with gold. 

But also tonight, too many moms across America will be feeding their children instant ramen or hamburger helper without the hamburger, or skipping dinner themselves in order to feed their kids. 

It shouldn’t be this way. And it doesn’t have to be. Solutions are at our fingertips. 

Polls show the vast majority of Americans support care infrastructure policies, and that, combined with the rising power of moms, and with your leadership, is why it’s not a question of if, but when we win.  

Thank you.