DeLauro Floor Remarks in Support of Rule to Advance the Build Back Better Act

WASHINGTON – House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in support of advancing the Build Back Better Act. A video of DeLauro's remarks can be found here.

"I rise in support of the Build Back Better Act that is before us today – a package of legislation that I believe ranks alongside the New Deal and Great Society in its impact.

"We must pass this legislation. It delivers a once-in-a-generation investment in children, families, and caregivers – and finally a scale of investment in combatting climate change that cannot wait.

"The Build Back Better Act expands and improves the Child Tax Credit, the biggest cut in taxes for working families with children – a groundbreaking and transformative policy that I have been fighting for—for nearly 20 years. I am proud that families with children under six received $300 a month and children six through 17 received $250 a month. It is a lifeline for the middle class and lifts over 50 percent of children out of poverty. It allows us to emerge from the shadows of the pandemic. It is Social Security for children.

"The Build Back Better Act adds to this with a first-time investment in child care that guarantees that its cost will not exceed seven percent of their income. And I am so proud that this package includes paid family and medical leave, which finally responds to the needs of workers and families so they can take time off to care for themselves or for a loved one when they are ill.

"We have an opportunity, an opportunity to build the architecture for the future for working families in this country. Working and middle-class families across the country are counting on us to build a better, stronger America.

"Thank you, and I yield."