From Moms Rising (https://www.momsrising.org/):
For Valentine’s Day, it would be great to enjoy chocolates, flowers, and candy. But honestly, it’s difficult to feel the love when my family and so many other families like mine are struggling to afford and access quality child care. We know we’ve been talking a lot about child care lately, but this is an absolutely crucial moment and we don’t deserve to keep having our hearts broken over (and over again) when it comes to getting the child care support we need to rebuild our nation and economy.
**This is why we are asking you to sign this petition at https://action.momsrising.org/sign/Child_Care_Valentines_Day so it can be delivered to the U.S. Senate this Valentine’s Day, Monday the 14th, telling them to pass a care infrastructure!
So here’s what’s going down. The U.S House has already passed the Build Back Better plan which could help heal our hearts and economic woes! This bill would pass life-saving measures for families like extending the Child Tax Credit payments, solving the child care and Pre-K crisis, guaranteeing paid family and medical leave when your family needs it, making home- and community-based services for the elderly and those with disabilities more affordable, lowering the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs, and more. This bill makes us feel all the love!
But, unfortunately, every Republican Senator and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has refused so far to support this game-changing piece of legislation. All while parents and caregivers continue to be pushed out of the workforce, lose out on income, and more.
But there may be a solution to move the bill through reconciliation with a simple majority in the Senate! [1]
Personally, we don’t care what they call it… budget reconciliation, Build Back Better Act, or other. What we do know is that families NEED child care, universal pre-k, the Child Tax Credit, paid family and medical leave, and more.
The situation right now is truly heartbreaking, as an article by The Century Foundation points out: “Families with young children have been hit especially hard during the COVID-19 pandemic: they have had to face not only all the labor market disruptions but also all the child care and schooling disruptions. In no prior downturn have families had to endure two disruptions of this magnitude hitting at the same time, with the same rapidity.” [2] On top of this, even though it seemed like the labor market made positive gains this past January, it turns out that 27 times more men than women joined the labor force during this time. [3] That means women and moms are still being hit hard. Even with these modest gains, there were still nearly 1.1 million fewer women in the labor force in January 2022 compared to February 2020. [4]
We can and we must do better. Speaking of which, passing these policies isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do for families, businesses, and our economy. Put simply: a child care and pre-k system is needed so parents can go to work, so children can thrive, so care workers can earn living wages, and so businesses can prosper and not be understaffed. These are win-win policies for families and our economy!
It’s been a long road, from the lack of care support and pre-k before the pandemic, to still living through the pandemic today. We are all tired. We need ALL the chocolates, hearts, love, and solutions we can get. We deserve that, our children deserve that, and our families deserve that. It’s time for the U.S. Senate to take the right steps forward, and we thank YOU for being with us this entire time, raising our voices together so we can create the positive changes our nation needs!
Thank you for all you do to support the ongoing fight for child care!
References:
[1] https://budget.house.gov/publications/fact-sheet/budget-reconciliation-basics[2] https://tcf.org/content/commentary/families-with-young-children-are-losing-13-billion-a-year-while-child-care-sector-struggles-during-the-pandemic
[3] [4] https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Jan-Jobs-Day.pdf
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