“America’s moms know how badly our country needs a care infrastructure, because moms, families, businesses and our economy all suffer when we are forced to manage caregiving and jobs, including jobs in the care and childcare sector, without common-sense protections like access to affordable child care, home- and community-based services for seniors and people with disabilities, universal paid leave, and a living wage. The negative economic impacts are harming women and moms of color the most due to structural racism. That’s why we are pleased that today the Biden-Harris administration proposed its American Jobs Plan – a historic investment in our care infrastructure that would begin to address some of the most pressing issues facing moms and our country today.

“We applaud the plan’s $400 billion investment to expand Medicaid access to home- and community-based services for seniors and people with disabilities, and its focus on increasing pay and benefits and improving training for direct care workers – essential workers who are disproportionately women of color and immigrants. We applaud the proposals to build public schools, upgrade child care facilities, and make drinking water safe for everyone. We strongly support paying for these essential investments, and other investments that lift struggling families, by making our tax code more equitable and ensuring that the wealthiest corporations finally pay their fair share.

“Good care and good jobs are inextricably linked, and the American Jobs Plan will boost women, moms, families, and our economy.

"Moms will mobilize to convince Congress to pass this plan, as well as legislation being introduced in the coming weeks that will finish the job of creating a care economy by adopting paid leave for all, universal child care, permanent improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, a $15 federal minimum wage that covers everyone, including tipped workers, and a pathway to citizenship for immigrant families, many of whom are essential and care workers.”

-Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and Founder, MomsRising

“Many women were hanging by a thread before the pandemic, due to decades of neglect and insufficient investment in our care infrastructure. Now, for many, that thread has unraveled altogether. Women’s labor force participation is at a 30-year low, and millions of moms have been pushed out of the labor force because they have no access to affordable childcare. That is a huge setback for families, for gender and racial equity, for businesses, and for our economy.

“By building a care infrastructure that spans generations, we can begin reversing the damage and lift families and our economy. That infrastructure must include universal paid leave, universal childcare, universal long-term care, permanent improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, a pathway to citizenship for immigrant families, many of whom are essential and care workers. and a higher minimum wage. And we must make sure our tax code is equitable and can sustain funding for these programs which matter so much to struggling families, by making sure the wealthy and mega-corporations pay their fair share. We need all of that to address the extreme emergency that many women, moms and families are facing, and especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and people of color moms who are experiencing compounded health and economic harms in the pandemic.

“We can and must create ways for everyone to thrive. The American Rescue Plan began that work, and the American Jobs Plan is the essential next step. We look forward to the next economic package, expected in April; it must include paid leave, a higher minimum wage that covers tipped workers, and a path to citizenship for immigrants. Only with all that will moms, families, and our economy truly be poised to thrive.”

-Statement of Donna Norton, Executive Vice President, MomsRising