Thank you, Chairman LaHood and Ranking Member Davis, for the opportunity to testify today. I’m Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director of MomsRising, which has a total membership of 3.7 million, who live in every state, and are working to help build a nation where families can thrive. We’re grateful for the opportunity to bring the voices of millions of moms before this Subcommittee. 

At MomsRising, we hear from moms every day that they, and their families, are working hard, playing by the rules, and yet cannot make ends meet as the cost of raising children is skyrocketing: 

• A pound of hamburger costs more than you get paid for an hour of work at the federal minimum wage.
• Less than half of Americans can afford health care.
• Child care costs more than college – and more than rent in 17 states. 
• And gas, housing, and aging and disability care are mind-bogglingly expensive. 

Families need moms’ wages more than ever, just to put food on the table and a roof over our children’s heads - and three-quarters of moms are in the labor force. 

But hardworking moms are being forced into unacceptable choices. Moms like Nicole in Florida, who skipped the colonoscopy her doctor says she urgently needs in order to pay pediatric bills for her three children. 

Right now, we’re hearing from more and more moms that they’re feeling the squeeze of huge cost increases after the Republican majority slashed $1 trillion from Medicaid, cut SNAP by $187 billion, and refused to extend the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.  

And then, instead of fixing the crisis facing families, they have now poured more than $240 billion into militarized immigration enforcement without guardrails to protect our communities. Our nation absolutely needs a safe and orderly immigration process that balances compassion and security: Not cuts to health care, and not cruelty.

The current family affordability and health care crises are not a question of resources – they’re a question of priorities. 

• That $240 billion would cover Medicaid for about 30 million people. 
• The daily cost of the war in Iran alone could cover the daily health care costs of the 16 million people expected to lose Medicaid – and also cover SNAP benefits for all 41 million Americans who rely on it.
• The tariffs have cost each U.S. household $1,200 a year. 

The resources are there. The priorities are wrong. 

In this high-cost environment, TANF needs improvement. It has been frozen at $16.5 billion per year since it started in 1996, losing more than half of its value to inflation –  and the bureaucratic barriers to the program are much too onerous. Fewer than 1 in 4 families in deep need receive TANF.  But repeating TANF's mistake by pretending cutting programs makes families stronger - is not the answer. 

Moms of all political parties are struggling as Republicans’ signature bills have cut off millions from health care and limited food access, as they’ve also blocked care policies, caused costs to skyrocket, and allowed TANF to become outdated. 

Fortunately solutions are possible.

We urge Congress to recognize what 30 years of experience has taught us: If we want parents to work, WE have to make it possible for parents to work,... to get health care, and to thrive.

That means cash for people to put gas in the car, buy diapers, and access child care. 

• It means paid family and medical leave when a new baby arrives or a serious health crisis strikes. 
• It means access to affordable, high quality child care. 
• It means living wages so care workers can stay in their profession. 
• It means fair treatment of immigrants, who are critical to our care workforce, businesses, and communities. 
• It means health coverage that families can rely on, accessible maternal health care, affordable elder and disability care, food assistance when times are hard, and a Child Tax Credit that allows families to afford the enormous cost of raising children. 

These aren’t alternatives to work – they are what make work possible.  

Moms know the value of work because moms work all the time — whether that work comes with a paycheck or not. We don't need our government withholding food or health care from our children to “motivate” us to work. 

The idea that taking away a family's resources to buy diapers, school supplies, groceries, or pay rent or health coverage will somehow make child care affordable, or replace the need for paid family/medical leave, or turn a low-wage job into one that supports a family is simply ridiculous. 

It doesn’t have to be this way: Opening avenues for moms to thrive opens doors for our economy to thrive. One key study found that better care policies would lift our country’s long-term real GDP growth by 10 to 15 basis points – and all of the programs I named today have sky high return on investments (ROIs).  

When moms do well, our nation does well.  Lifting families lifts our economy. AND: Strengthening the programs that allow moms and families to thrive is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. Thank you.