The coronavirus pandemic reminds us of the urgency of the fight our network has been engaged in for years: paid leave saves lives, saves jobs. Last spring the Congress passed an important step toward ensuring people impacted by COVID-19 could afford to stay home to quarantine or recover or provide care. But the Families First Coronavirus Response Act had enormous loopholes that left out up to 106 million people. Now we call on our elected officials, before leaving town to campaign, to take the next step and pass the updated Heroes Act just unveiled by Speaker Pelosi to extend meaningful child care and paid leave protections to all working families.
The key to ending this pandemic is making sure workers can follow doctor’s orders rather than showing up at work sick and infecting others. Yet millions of essential workers who make it possible for the rest of us to survive are forced to make these trade-offs every day. We are only as safe and protected as those among us who deliver our food, stock our stores and care for our children and other loved ones.
For parents to do their work, child care providers must have the support to safely stay open. With over 4.5 million child care slots at risk of disappearing, the federal government must invest funds to support and expand them, as this act begins to do.
Time is of the essence. As we enter flu season and see children risking their health to get an education, we must take emergency action to close the loopholes and guarantee all working people have emergency paid sick days and paid family and medical leave during the pandemic, and that many more parents can have access to affordable, quality child care.
Those who represent us in Washington, DC have a clear duty: prioritize this bill in the House and in the Senate. For too long the Senate has shirked their duty to address this public health crisis with clear, equitable policies. Voters need politicians to do their job and let us do ours: exercise our right to vote to decide who should serve on the Supreme Court and who will enact permanent child care and paid leave policies so we will never be unprepared for another pandemic – and so that all of us can be there for our loved ones without risking our financial or physical security.
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