We have a once in a generation opportunity to finally build the care
infrastructure we all need! Tell Congress to act without delay!
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]SIGN NOW
Friend -- A quiet rage is growing, a desperation is deepening,
and a need for change is rising. Just when many of us thought the worst
was behind us, the rampant spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 is
causing many hospitals to be at or near capacity. The crisis is driven by
a huge spike in severe COVID-19 cases among people who have not been
vaccinated. Outbreaks in elementary schools are already widespread as kids
are going back to class before vaccines are available to their age groups
in communities where the contagion is spreading fast. Child care centers
and schools are still struggling to stay open in the midst of this
pandemic. And parents—particularly moms upon whom the unpaid labor of
caregiving primarily lands—are filled with despair, worry, exasperation
and even rage.
It goes without saying: These feelings are justified.
[ [link removed] ]*It doesn’t have to be this way. Turn anger, sadness, and frustration
into change by telling Congress to finally build the care infrastructure
we all need -- as they are now considering doing right now -- ASAP.
The more of us who raise our voices and sign-on in this moment when we’re
on the cusp of big change in Congress, the faster much-needed changes will
happen. And please sign on quickly -- and pass the sign-on page around and
post on social media -- because we’ll be delivering the signatures to
Congress in the coming days as they consider their next votes.
[ [link removed] ]Together our signatures add up. Together we can help lift our nation
and our families. Hope is on the horizon. While there's no single public
policy that will solve the slow-rolling crisis families faced before the
pandemic that now has turned into a runaway train wreck; a combination of
policy solutions that are in the reconciliation package that Congress is
moving right now, along with the infrastructure package, will go a long
way toward building a care infrastructure that helps our families, our
economy and our country in both times of crisis like this one and also in
times of opportunity.
That set of policy solutions that build the care infrastructure includes
national universal policies relating to child care, paid family and
medical leave for when an urgent health crisis strikes or a new baby
arrives, a permanently expanded Child Tax Credit, living wages for care
workers, home- and community-based services, a path to citizenship for
essential and care workers, access to unbiased health care and
more. [ [link removed] ]All of these are policies that MomsRising has been working on for
over a decade that we now might win.
Moving these policies forward in tandem, as is currently proposed in the
reconciliation package before Congress, is crucial. Passing them together
would help lift public health by giving more people access to health care
and time to heal so as not to prolong the pandemic. [1] It would create
millions of good care jobs, enable moms and parents to work, and it would
significantly boost our families' and our nation's economic security. [2]
[ [link removed] ]*This is an emergency: Join us in urging Congress to immediately pass a
strong reconciliation package that includes a care infrastructure.
Passing a strong reconciliation package to build a care infrastructure
would also help combat systemic inequalities experienced by Black,
Indigenous, Latino, women and mothers, and people of color. [3] To that
end, data shows that investments in policies like universal paid leave and
child care—especially in ways that include provisions such as job
protection, progressive wage replacement, non-discrimination protections
and more—will help stop systemic inequalities. [4] For instance, child
care right now is least affordable for Black and Latinx families with low
incomes; [ [link removed] ] Native American and Latinx communities are more likely to
live in child care deserts; and Asian American and Latinx children have
particularly low levels of access to child care subsidies. [ [link removed] ] This needs
to change.
[5]And together we can (and must) help make this change happen. Congress
needs to hear from you while they’re considering making these policy
changes.
Building a care infrastructure would be no small boost for our nation. A
recent study found that finally building a care infrastructure would lift
our country's long-term real GDP growth by 10-15 basis points. [ [link removed] ]
Studies also show access to paid leave when illness strikes significantly
lowers COVID transmission. [ [link removed] ] We also know that a full 32 percent of
women ages 25 to 44 who were pushed out of jobs were pushed out simply
because they didn't have access to child care; [ [link removed] ] the employment gains
from building a care infrastructure would be highly significant.
Solutions like those in the reconciliation package that Congress is moving
along with the infrastructure package right now are desperately needed.
Moms—particularly Black, Indigenous women and moms of color who have
experienced compounded health and economic harms in the pandemic—have been
disproportionately pushed out of much-needed jobs [ [link removed] ] in no small part
because our nation has yet to build a care infrastructure like most other
industrialized nations. This has put women's labor force participation at
a 30-year low, setting back gender and racial equality. [ [link removed] ]
Just as we need to build bridges and roads to drive on to get to work, we
need to build a care infrastructure so parents can go to work, so children
can thrive, so care workers can earn living wages and stay in their
profession, so our economy can grow—and importantly, so we can better get
through this pandemic together.
Given what's at stake, it's not surprising that polls show real people,
and real voters, across the political spectrum—Republicans and Democrats
alike—widely back this set of policy updates. [ [link removed] ] Support for paid
leave, for instance, is so strong that one recent poll found 84 percent of
Senate battleground voters, including 96 percent of Democrats, 81 percent
of Independents, 74 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of Trump voters
support paid leave, with 76 percent of voters wanting it passed now in the
infrastructure legislation.
[6]*NOW IS THE TIME! Congress is considering building a care
infrastructure via the reconciliation package right now -- and we need to
double down on rising up!
Unprecedented numbers of moms are rising to support building a care
infrastructure -- and the power of the voices of moms, dads, caregivers,
and parents across the nation speaking out is a big part of why we have
this opportunity for national change right now. For instance, MomsRising
members like YOU (!!), who live in every state in the nation, have already
made over 630,000 constituent contacts through phone calls, petition
signatures, sharing their stories, holding local events and more to help
push building a care infrastructure forward—[7]and we will keep the
pressure on until these policies pass.
[8]*Stand with us. Keep rising with us. Join us in channeling the quiet
rage, the exhaustion, the anger and the desperation into a call for the
change we all need. We have a once in a generation chance to make national
change for our families and for families to come. It’s on us to help make
that change actually happen by taking action now.
After all, care can't wait and neither can our economy.
With great appreciation for all you do and gratitude,
-- Kristin
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