Congressmen Andy Levin (MI-09), Mondaire Jones (NY-17) and Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) held a Zoom press conference after the House Committee on Education and Labor approved its section of the Build Back Better Act. As the Senate reconvenes today and infrastructure negotiations continue, the Congressmen made a case for the importance of the human infrastructure investments their committee passed to transform the lives of American workers, individuals, families and kids.
You can watch the press conference here or read excerpts below.
"Working people have gotten the short end of the stick in this country for 40 years – since the Reagan era, and income and wealth inequality has grown beyond all bounds," said Rep. Levin. "This Build Back Better Act is President Joe Biden's vision of how to fix that, and it includes things like civil penalties for employers who violate workers' rights, which will raise revenue for the Treasury – totally appropriate for the reconciliation process – but also will contribute to a more equal society by letting workers be more free to form unions and bargain collectively. This is really an amazing package. I'm so proud to be on the Labor Committee and to play a small part and push it forward."
"It's simple, the Build Back Better Act is a monumental investment in America's working families. With our portion alone, we're injecting over $700 billion into our communities that need it most – delivering for Main Street, not Wall Street," said Rep. Espaillat."We can't mince words: this past year and a half has taken an unfathomable toll on our children, families and their communities - and they need our support. By lowering child care costs, reducing barriers to entry for higher education, bolstering our public school systems, preventing child hunger, and helping workers get good-paying jobs, we are taking strides to ensure our working families can build back better and stronger than ever before. This is the time to deliver for our working families – and I'm proud to join my Education and Labor committee colleagues to deliver on that promise."
"After hours of debate marking up our section of the Build Back Better Act, I'm thrilled that my colleagues and I on the Education and Labor Committee were successful in our fight to secure historic investments in child care, education and good-paying jobs," said Rep. Jones. "One of these key provisions – universal child care – is personal to me. Growing up, when day care was too expensive, my grandmother took me to work with her cleaning homes. Every kid deserves high-quality, affordable child care. In April, I introduced the Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act with Senator Elizabeth Warren, which would cap the annual cost of child care at seven percent of household income. By including a provision to do exactly that in the Build Back Better Act, House Democrats are investing in child care as the critical infrastructure it is. In the richest nation in the world, child care should be universal, and it's why I've worked so hard, and will keep working, to ensure that it is."
The Committee's portion invests $761 billion to lower costs for families, secure good-paying jobs for American workers and set a strong foundation of America's children. These investments will:
- Ensure that no family will pay more than seven percent of their income on child care,
- Secure universal pre-K for three- and four-year-olds,
- Tackle the cost of higher education with investments from Rep. Levin's America's College Promise Act funding two years of tuition-free community college,
- Strengthen our public schools by helping school districts repair, modernize, or rebuild crumbling and outdated school buildings,
- Help workers secure good-paying jobs by expanding job training programs,
- Increase enforcement of labor law and civil rights violations, setting meaningful civil monetary penalties for violations of worker safety and labor laws and
- Reduce child hunger by expanding our most effective child nutrition programs.
Source:https://andylevin.house.gov/media/press-releases/watch-reps-andy-levin-mondaire-jones-and-adriano-espaillat-tout-historic
