American Rescue Plan Will Deliver Urgent Relief

Recovery requires permanent policies like paid leave

We applaud the Biden-Harris administration for their commitment to the emergency COVID needs of all workers. The American Rescue Plan will deliver urgently needed relief to families, child care providers, and small businesses. Families suffering from the double whammy of illness and lost income will benefit from immediate financial boost and from investments in cities and states. A long-sought for change in the Child Tax Credit may cut the nation’s child poverty in half.

Another major win from this legislation is the $39 billion for childcare. Investing in our childcare infrastructure will help the diverse range of providers pay for rent, utilities, and payroll and the increased costs associated with the pandemic. The investment also supports families by making available more affordable, safe, nurturing childcare options and higher compensation for early educators.

However, some of the needed family security proposals in the original version of the plan have been stripped out, including robust paid leave. Instead of an inclusive guarantee, the Rescue Plan provides tax credits to reimburse employers with fewer than 500 employees if they voluntarily offer paid leave to those impacted by COVID-19. We appreciate efforts to improve these voluntary employer tax credits. They will make it easier for small business owners who want to protect their employees. At the same time, we know that failure to require companies to offer paid leave means that tens of millions of workers who need it most will have to work while ill or endure greater financial loss. This disproportionately impacts low-wage workers and workers of color as well as the health and economic security of the greater community. We need national, permanent paid leave to keep people in their jobs and able to care for their families – and help the economy grow as much as 5% by bringing women’s labor force participation rates in the United States up to those in other countries.

The pandemic has laid bare the interdependent nature of our lives. It has crystallized the need for 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. And it has reaffirmed what we’ve long known: paid sick time and paid family and medical leave are critical, structural tools for stopping the spread of the coronavirus and future health threats. The coming recovery package must ensure that no one will have to choose between their paycheck and caring for their loved ones.

Like raising the minimum wage, paid leave is a critical step to economic recovery for American families. If the Senate cannot function in a way that reflects the needs of our most impacted workers, we must find ways to stop a minority of Senators from blocking urgent priorities. We need a government response that takes the side of working people and 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, care and protect public health.