The chant was “Care Can’t Wait” as the group Moms Rising took to Capitol Hill to press for care provisions in the Build Back Better bill.
That means paid family and medical leave, child care investments, services for the elderly and a permanent child tax credit.
Daniella Knight, a working mother, told what happened to her family when her husband was laid off last year, three months into the pandemic.
“We lost a large portion of our income and our health care,” she said. “I frantically took on extra hours as he searched for a new job and we were lucky that he found a new position in the fall but it took more than 6 months to actually receive unemployment benefits and that meant that we had to drain our emergency savings.”
Moms Rising is also pushing for a path to citizenship for care workers from other countries.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker joined the group, saying having a care infrastructure would insure the country’s future.
“Will we be a nation that loves its children not with words and platitudes but actual policies that make a real difference for parents and families,” said Booker, “and so today I say Care Can’t Wait.”
Booker said statistics show child care is more expensive than college tuition in half of the 50 states.
“Every child deserves the freedom from the financial insecurity that undermines their well-being, that makes it harder for them to be successful at school, and then cheats them out of their American dream,” said Booker.
He said that without the support that working mothers need, the decision to have a child can plunge a woman into poverty.