DeLauro Applauds President Biden’s American Families Plan

DeLauro Has Led Fight for Paid Family and Medical Leave For More Than A Decade

WASHINGTON – House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) issued the following statement on President Biden's American Families Plan, which would invest in care infrastructure to support economic recovery and includes a national paid family and medical leave program:

"President Biden's American Families Plan recognizes that our country is hurting and bold federal action is needed to get the United States back on its feet.

"Combined with the American Rescue Plan and the American Jobs Plan, this proposal has the potential to transform tens of millions of lives. From investments in child care, pre-school, and higher education, in addition to a national paid family and medical leave, to rightfully prioritizing nutrition and its link to the pandemic, the President is laying the groundwork to reshape the economy. To pay for these sweeping investments, President Biden is rightly reversing tax giveaways and requiring millionaires and billionaires to play by the same rules as everyone else.

"We have long known that safe, high-quality child care and pre-school changes a child's trajectory and bolsters working parents, but it remains out of reach for too many families. As the author of the Child Care is Essential Act and a leader in the fight to invest in our child care industry, I applaud the investments proposed in the American Families Plan which will help reopen our economy, support children and families, and improve racial equity.

"Nutrition insecurity in the richest country in the world is immoral. The investments in nutrition included in the American Families Plan will allow kids and families to access nutritious foods by expanding the Summer EBT program to all 29 million eligible children and by building on the success of the school meals program, which is now the healthiest source of food consumed in the country.

"As a champion of paid family and medical leave and the author of the FAMILY Act that I started drafting in 2010 and first introduced in 2013, I am thrilled with the inclusion of national paid family and medical leave in the American Families Plan. Additionally, today President Biden took a critical step by urging Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, my legislation to establish a national paid sick days policy. Together, these policies are some of the most significant steps we can take protect workers and their families and create a more resilient economy.

"By expanding and improving the Child Tax Credit based on my legislation, the American Family Act, the American Rescue Plan was historic. The temporary extension of these provisions in the American Families Plan is an important first step in the fight to quickly make this expansion permanent.

"This plan, in partnership with the plan released yesterday by Chairman Neal, creates a roadmap for where Congress must go next. Now Congress has the opportunity to move this plan forward, and in some places make it even stronger.

"I look forward to attending President Biden's Joint Address tonight. Together, we can lift up the American people so that every person, no matter their background, has the opportunity to contribute and succeed."