American Families Plan

Floor Speech

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Ms. PRESSLEY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York, my friend and colleague, for convening us this evening.

Care work is the backbone of our Nation's economy. Yet, for too long, policymakers have failed to make the critical investments needed to ensure that everyone, at all stages of life, has access to the high- quality care they need and deserve, and that our care workers are compensated for their essential work with livable wages. Their work is essential and so, too, are their lives.

I rise today on behalf of our Nation's care workers, whose labor continues to be undervalued, undermined, and unprotected, despite its essential role in our society.

I rise to lend my voice to the thousands of care workers, disproportionately Black and Brown women, who spend hours upon hours meeting the care needs of others, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Caregivers often juggling work while also providing care for their own families and struggling to cover the most basic of needs.

I want to take a moment to speak specifically on the critical role of home and community-based services. During the COVID-19 crisis and long before, these services have been a lifeline, supporting people from all walks of life with critical medical care in their home or community. This is an issue of quality care, of healthcare justice, of disability justice, and of liberty.

Again, throughout the pandemic, home and community-based services were a lifeline for so many, but the infrastructure needs resources. The Biden administration has proposed a historic investment in HCBS to meet the scale of the need and demand. This proposed investment is an investment in healthcare justice, but also an investment in human infrastructure, in our essential workers.

We must make these services readily available and compensate our home care workers, the majority of whom are women of color, with a living wage.

To build back better, we must center the people. We must invest in our communities and affirm that a better world is possible, a more just world, where every person can thrive.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to legislate our values and to create a more just and caring America that takes care of everyone who calls this great Nation home.

Passing a robust infrastructure package that affirms care is infrastructure would leave a profound legacy.

Today, on the floor of the House of Representatives, we reaffirm our commitment to building a nation where every person can live and thrive with dignity.

As we craft a legislative response that actualizes that vision, we must make plain that what is needed in this moment of unprecedented economic crisis is bold, intentional legislation that recognizes the dignity and humanity of all workers, and affirms the right to meaningful, dignified work and a livable wage.

Earlier this year, I introduced a congressional resolution calling for a Federal job guarantee, which would provide every person in America with an enforceable legal right to a quality job. Extending beyond a project-based approach, our resolution calls for the creation of Federal jobs on projects that meet long-neglected community, physical and human infrastructure needs, such as delivering high- quality care for children and seniors, building and sustaining 21st century transit systems, strengthening our neighborhoods, and protecting the environment.

That is the type of bold, necessary approach we should bring to this process and beyond.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many of these challenges and laid bare the deep inequities and disparities in our Nation.

From paid family and medical leave to home and community-based services, to universal childcare, to a dignified living wage and beyond, the people demand responsive policy that speaks to their lived experiences and struggles. The people are counting on us to deliver.

So let me make it plain: Any infrastructure package must deliver for our care workers, and it must take care of the people, because the care economy is critical infrastructure.

In this moment, as we fight for a strong economic recovery, we must also work to build a better, a more just, and more equitable economy than ever before.

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