The First 100 Days

This election season, we’ve seen voters and families say again and again that they need and want substantive change. They want commonsense policies that will support working families, especially during this national health crisis. These much-needed changes are within reach with new leadership that has expressed a commitment to a care agenda.

The newly seated Congress and the Biden administration will inherit a nation reeling from the weight of multiple crises––the coronavirus, institutional racism, economic inequity and the attack on democracy. This is the moment to demonstrate leadership for bold and effective measures. In the first 100 days our elected officials should:

Listen to and Invest in Workers

• Create working groups, commissions, and advisory councils for federal entities such as the Domestic Policy Council, DOL, DHS, and SSA that include workers who have had personal experiences needing time to care, medical complications, and/or child care that have led them to become activists for change. 
• Make coronavirus relief protections effective by guaranteeing workers can take the paid leave they need and removing the carve-outs that excluded tens of millions of people. Enforce these and other worker protection laws. 
• Enact permanent paid sick days and paid family and medical leave programs that are inclusive and meaningful.
• Ensure comprehensive COVID relief includes substantial and targeted support for child care, Head Start, and preschool programs. 
• Include a big, bold proposal to provide affordable, high-quality child care and early learning for all in the President’s Budget, and provide mandatory and discretionary funding to achieve that vision.

Learn from States Leading the Way

• Incorporate lessons learned from state agencies that implement paid leave, including inviting state agencies to participate in federal working group activities, such as an interagency taskforce, designed to create an equitable and effective paid leave program. 
• Invest in research to document impact of paid leave and sick time in states and municipalities, with an emphasis on research that shows how specific policy levers (such as job protection, wage replacement levels, and inclusive family definition) lead to a more equitable use of the benefits.
• Highlight lessons learned from states and municipalities by using the bully pulpit of the presidency, Congress, and cabinet positions to generate public awareness of these successes, including talking about paid leave, sick time and child care in inaugural addresses, press conferences, and the State of the Union. 

Invest in Staffing

• Ensure senior level staff of the Domestic Policy Council, Department of Labor, and Social Security Administration are paid leave and child care subject matter experts, and have long-standing relationships with organizations fighting to pass these policies.
• Invest in and expand the US Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau, including regional bureaus. 
• Establish a new senior-level White House position focused on child care and early learning, supporting robust staffing in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Education (ED), and creating a national grassroots advisory council for child care and early learning.

We need systems that ensure everyone is included in our nation’s prosperity and every working person’s contribution to that prosperity is given due respect and properly valued. We need a government that takes the side of working people and the vulnerable and that guarantees the shared prosperity that we have earned, including living wages, access to healthcare and child care, and paid sick days and family and medical leave that allow us to heal, take care of our loved ones, and protect public health. These investments in our care infrastructure are the first steps in realizing such a government.

While the nation faces major crises, we remain optimistic about the future of our movement. We will continue to cultivate the state- and federal-level champions we need to impact widespread social change. With new leadership in the White House and new power in Congress, our network stands ready to help build the economy we all need and deserve.