The post-pandemic planning edition. The rapid decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has prompted speculation that maybe, possibly, perhaps, the end of the pandemic is in sight. We can’t say for sure – we've been down that road before.

But we can ask ourselves a fundamental question. When the pandemic recedes, do we want to go back to the pre-pandemic days? Or do we want to build something better, something lasting, something that boldly addresses the weaknesses and systemic inequities that predated COVID-19?

Let’s reflect. Even before the pandemic hit, we were in the midst of a child care crisis. It hampered our economy when some women raising children chose not to work, not because they didn’t want to, but because of child care’s escalating cost. We were in a home care crisis, when at least 800,000 older Americans or Americans with disabilities were on waiting lists for the care they need in order to live independently.

We were in a housing crisis, with the stock of available housing woefully inadequate to meet our country’s low-income housing needs. And today, rents are simply spiraling out of control (see below).

We were in a health coverage crisis, with 2.2 million poor adults ineligible for Medicaid in 12 states and millions more needing improvements in the premium subsidies in the Affordable Care Act as well as help with the high cost of prescription drugs.

We were in a child poverty crisis – the Child Tax Credit expansion included in the March 2021 American Rescue Plan temporarily addressed that, but now poverty is returning in all its cruel vengeance.

Here’s an example of how that CTC expansion helped – for a time, at least – and how it could do so again. Take a family earning just $2,000 in annual income, with two children ages 4 and 8. That family received $550 a month under the expanded CTC payments, which expired in December. This year, if Congress does not act, the family will get nothing.

The pandemic is not over yet, of course.  It is still cutting into workers’ wages and sending people to the hospital. We need Congress to respond, with help needed now and for our future.

We can still have a plan that addresses most of these crises – and another human needs crisis as well, climate change. We might not get everything we want in one fell swoop – history is rarely like that. But we still can pass something historic.

It is not too late to call your Senators.

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