Momentum for Moms

Being a mom is a juggling act in normal times. But last spring, the pandemic brought many families to a crashing halt. The daily juggle became a never-ending struggle, and moms have borne the brunt of it. Remote learning, lay-offs, child care closures, caring for sick kids and parents, financial struggles — moms are handling it all, often without enough support.

My heart goes out to the moms holding their families together right now and crying out for help. I hear you and I am here for you.

A silver lining is that the media is finally paying attention to the invaluable work of moms and parents and also to the untenable situation facing them. The New York Times ran several major stories last weekend. Local TV stations are interviewing moms for stories about everything from school re-openings to small business issues. USA Today, The Washington Post, NPR, CNN, the Wall Street Journal: they are finally paying attention to what moms need.

And Congress is listening and acting. The House is poised to pass my proposal to stabilize and expand the child care system with a $39 billion investment to make it more affordable for families and lift up child care workers. We are close to securing another round of direct payments of $1400 per person. And I'm calling for a robust expansion of the child tax credit that would lift five million kids out of poverty and provide working families with $3600 for each child under six years old, and $3000 for each child under eighteen.

These policies will go a long way to support moms, parents, kids, and working families. But we won't stop there. We finally have the momentum to fix the issues that are keeping moms and parents up at night.

I'm going to work as hard for moms as moms work for their families. Thank you for standing with me.