Marshall Plan for Moms

Floor Speech

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Ms. MENG. Madam Speaker, I rise today with a desperate cry for help and a call to action for the millions of moms who have been pushed to the brink of economic, social, and emotional disaster due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, moms--especially moms of color--have been facing the brunt of the economic fall out of this pandemic as a result of existing social barriers and policy failures that have been compounded by enduring racism and gender injustices.

What a year can do. At the beginning of 2020, even in the face of continued gender and racial wage gaps, women made up the majority of the workforce for the first time in almost a decade. A year later, women have lost over 5.4 million net jobs and account for 55 percent of overall net job loss since the start of the pandemic. Today, there are over 2 million fewer women in the labor force than there were before the pandemic. The pandemic has triggered a financial and emotional calamity for America's moms, who are shouldering the majority of child care, domestic work, and remote school responsibilities--and this against the backdrop of women who were already overrepresented in low- wage jobs and underrepresented in high-wage jobs.

We know that mother's wages are key to their families' economic security and survival, even as they are leaving the workforce in droves or are reducing work hours--otherwise known as the ``she-cession''. American moms are breadwinners in nearly half of families with children under 18, and yet the wage gap for moms is larger than for women overall, such that moms with full-time, year-round jobs are paid 70 cents for every dollar paid to dads. Adding to the tragedy is that moms permanently leaving the workforce are disrupting their career trajectory and endangering their future Social Security earnings and other potential retirement income. Furthermore, child nutrition is inextricably linked to mothers in the workforce, such that almost one in four children experienced food insecurity in 2020. This is a moral failure.

Madam Speaker, moms are screaming out for help. I hear constantly from other moms that this is just not sustainable. The unprecedented burdens of child care, work, remote learning--on top of the social isolation--have strained the mental and emotional health of moms. As a mom of two young boys, this issue is especially personal to me. Moms everywhere are saying: something has to give, before something ultimately breaks.

That is why I am introducing the Marshall Plan for Moms to revitalize and restore moms in the workforce. After all, any meaningful and sustainable economic recovery from this pandemic must recognize and rebuild moms in the labor force. As such, the Marshall Plan calls for robust paid leave; saving our child care industry, with a vision toward universal child care and early learning; investment in our education system, including broadband connections; strengthening child poverty tools, such as child tax credit and earned income tax credit; expanded unemployment insurance benefits; strong SNAP benefits; federal minimum wage increase to $15; and mental health support for moms.

We need a Marshall Plan for Moms because we need transformational structural change. Moms, especially moms of color, were already fighting an uphill battle against societal norms and economic injustices. They are hurting today, because, like so many other things, this pandemic has exacerbated already existing injustices and inequities.

Madam Speaker, as you have always said: When Women Succeed, America Succeeds. For the sake of our economy, we must prioritize addressing this precipice facing moms and immediately implement the Marshall Plan for Moms, so that moms have a fighting chance, and that they are protected against any future economic calamities. I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation.

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