American Families Plan

Floor Speech

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Ms. OMAR. Madam Speaker, as our country recovers from this devastating pandemic, it is critical we prioritize our families. All working families deserve to thrive, and that starts with ensuring high- quality, affordable childcare.

This is a generational opportunity to invest in affordable, quality care for all children, and I urge my colleagues not to let it go to waste.

Right now, the average cost of childcare for children under 5 is around $10,000 a year. This amount is even higher for infants. In my home State of Minnesota, we have some of the highest childcare costs in the Nation, ranking fourth in the country.

A minimum-wage worker working full-time in my district in Minneapolis would have to work 30 weeks to cover the cost of childcare for one infant. This is unconscionable.

As a mom, I know how difficult it can be to find affordable childcare options and how a lack of childcare impacts all aspects of life, including the ability to graduate from college while taking care of young children or even the ability to find a job and thrive.

We need universal childcare and pre-K for all families, and we need to pay our childcare workers a living wage.

Ensuring affordable, quality care for every child and family would stimulate the economy and have a lasting benefit for children's development and growth.

The American Families Plan moves us closer to this goal by investing in universal preschool, ensuring childcare costs do not exceed 7 percent of income for working families, and guarantees childcare workers make a $15 minimum wage.

I urge my colleagues to ensure that women and families are not left behind in our recovery. Families across America are counting on us to do the right thing.

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