[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 121 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 121
Recognizing that the United States needs a Marshall Plan for Moms in
order to revitalize and restore mothers in the workforce.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 2021
Ms. Meng (for herself, Mr. Suozzi, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Nadler, Mr.
Khanna, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mrs. Carolyn
B. Maloney of New York, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Norton, Ms. Speier,
Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. Escobar, Mrs.
Watson Coleman, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Clarke of
New York, Mr. McGovern, Mrs. Beatty, and Mr. Bowman) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education
and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Ways and
Means, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing that the United States needs a Marshall Plan for Moms in
order to revitalize and restore mothers in the workforce.
Whereas any relief and long-term recovery from the economic fallout of the
COVID-19 pandemic must recognize, rebuild, and return mothers to the
workforce;
Whereas women, and especially working mothers, are facing the brunt of the
economic fallout of the pandemic as a result of existing social barriers
and policy failures that have been compounded by enduring racism and
gender injustices, such as--
(1) the lack of a care infrastructure, including high child care costs
and child care deserts;
(2) the lack of family-supportive workplaces;
(3) the lack of a national paid leave policy; and
(4) gender and racial pay inequities;
Whereas, at the beginning of 2020, women made up the majority of the workforce
for the first time in almost a decade, even as they continued to
unjustly face gender and racial wage gaps;
Whereas women are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and underrepresented in high-
wage jobs, making up two-thirds of minimum-wage earners;
Whereas Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair
Pay Act in 2009, but the gender and racial wage gaps still persist in
every industry, at every level of employment, regardless of education
level or experience;
Whereas women's wages are key to their families' economic security and survival;
Whereas, in 2019, before COVID-19 hit the United States, there were roughly
9,700,000 working mothers with a child under the age of 6;
Whereas mothers' earnings are inextricably linked to the families' earnings,
such that per parents' labor force participation rates--
(1) even 1 percent of mothers leaving the workforce would result in an
estimated $8,700,000,000 economic fallout for working families; and
(2) even 1 percent of full-time working mothers reducing their work to
part-time would mean an estimated $5,000,000,000 less in wages per year;
Whereas total reductions in women in the workforce participation can lead to
$64,500,000,000 in lost income per year;
Whereas even before the pandemic, working mothers faced continued biases and
stigmas in the workplace that caregiving responsibilities will
negatively impact their work performance, and now these concerns are
intensified with increased family demands;
Whereas Asian-American and Pacific Islander women, in particular Southeast Asian
and Pacific Islander women, get paid as low as $0.50 for every dollar a
White man makes, illustrating some of the widest wage gaps among all
women and a pay gap that increases for Asian-American women even more
with age;
Whereas Black women make only $0.63 for every dollar a White man makes, and can
lose $946,000 in their lifetimes;
Whereas Latina women earn $0.55 for every dollar earned a White man, and may
lose over $1,100,000 in wages over the course of a 40-year career;
Whereas Native American women are paid $0.60 for every dollar a White man makes
and are murdered at 10 times the rate of the national average, even
though financial independence and security can increase chances of
escaping violence for these women;
Whereas women of color play a vital role in the financial stability of their
families, and any disruptions to their earnings would be detrimental to
the welfare of their families;
Whereas American mothers are breadwinners in nearly half of families with
children under 18, including 48 percent of White mothers, 43 percent of
Asian-American and Pacific Islander mothers, 79 percent of Black
mothers, 48 percent of Latina mothers, and 64 percent of Native American
mothers, and yet the wage gap for mothers is larger than for women
overall, such that mothers with full-time, year-round jobs are paid 70
cents for every dollar paid to fathers;
Whereas women of color experience higher poverty rates and higher wage gaps than
their White counterparts due to disproportionate representation in
minimum wage jobs;
Whereas women have suffered the majority of pandemic-related job losses, wherein
since February 2020, women have lost over 5,400,000 net jobs and account
for 55 percent of overall net job loss since the start of the crisis;
Whereas during the pandemic, mothers permanently leaving the workforce or
reducing work hours are disrupting their career trajectory and
endangering their future Social Security earnings and other potential
retirement income;
Whereas child nutrition is inextricably and intimately related to mothers in the
workforce, such that almost one in four children experienced food
insecurity in 2020;
Whereas mothers are more than 3 times as likely as fathers to be responsible for
most of the housework and caregiving, and are 1.5 times more likely than
fathers to be spending an extra 3 or more hours a day on housework and
child care, which is equivalent to 20 hours a week, or half a full-time
job;
Whereas single mothers are more likely than other parents to do all the
housework and child care in their household, and are more likely than
mothers overall to claim financial insecurity as one of their top
concerns;
Whereas the pandemic has signaled a financial and emotional calamity for
America's mothers, who are shouldering the majority of child care,
domestic work, and remote schooling responsibilities;
Whereas throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, women of color work on the frontlines
as essential workers and across a variety of industries, such as nursing
assistants, home health aides, and child care educators and providers;
Whereas millions of Americans are suffering financially due to the COVID-19
pandemic, but women of color are experiencing job loss at higher rates
than their White counterparts;
Whereas 100 percent of net jobs lost in December 2020 were jobs held by women of
color, with women losing 156,000 jobs, and there were over 2,000,000
fewer women in the labor force in December than there were before the
pandemic began;
Whereas women of color are disproportionately represented in many industries
that lack critical benefits like paid sick leave, including food
services, hospitality, retail, and social assistance, and are
experiencing significant job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics January 2021 unemployment
data, the jobless rate for Black women and Latina women aged 20 and over
is over 60 percent higher than their White counterparts;
Whereas Asian Americans recorded the highest jobless rates among women in the
last 6 months of 2020, even though prepandemic, their average
unemployment rate was the lowest, and Asian-American women aged 16 and
above were hit hardest, making up 44 percent of unemployed women for at
least 6 months;
Whereas child care is the lifeline for working mothers, and over three-fourths
of mothers with children under age 10 say child care is one of their top
3 challenges during COVID-19;
Whereas it is estimated that as many as 4,500,000 child care slots could be
permanently lost due to the pandemic, affecting at least 2,250,000
families;
Whereas as many as 55,000,000 students were forced into remote learning as a
result of abrupt school closures;
Whereas many parents are providing remote learning supervision for younger
children, and 80 percent of mothers of kids under 12 years of age have
said they are the lead parent supervising remote learning;
Whereas interruptions by school closures and child care have disproportionately
impacted more women than men, forcing women to reduce work hours, take a
leave of absence, or permanently leave the workforce;
Whereas 95 percent of the child care workforce is comprised of women, and nearly
two-thirds of child care workers with children report accessing public
support programs and often struggle to afford high-quality child care
for their own families;
Whereas 60 percent of businesses in the child care industry are minority owned;
Whereas essential workers who are single parents face additional challenges and
financial burdens regarding their need for affordable child care;
Whereas a significant investment in child care is simultaneously job creating
and job enabling, creating good jobs and supporting parental employment;
Whereas access to paid leave in the pandemic has been linked to a reduction in
the spread of COVID-19 by as many as 15,000 new cases per day where
people were able to use paid leave, and paid leave has prevented
countless evictions, hospitalizations, hungry children, and compounded
stressors;
Whereas paid leave saves jobs, keeps women and caregivers in the workforce, and
is a cost-effective tool for public health and economic recovery;
Whereas the unprecedented burdens of child care, work, and remote learning have
strained mental and emotional health for mothers;
Whereas the stressors on mothers are further multiplied by poverty, race,
ethnicity, being a single parent, or having children who have special
needs, but lack social support during COVID-19; and
Whereas more than three quarters of parents with children ages 8 to 12 say the
uncertainty of the school year is causing them stress: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) the United States needs a Marshall Plan for Moms in
order to revitalize and restore mothers in the workforce;
(2) mothers, especially mothers of color, have been pushed
to the brink of economic, social, and emotional collapse during
the pandemic because of the existing economic and social
inequalities women have long faced;
(3) any relief and long-term recovery package to address
the COVID-19 crisis must recognize and rebuild moms in the
workforce, in order to secure meaningful and sustainable
economic recovery, by including, at a minimum--
(A) a robust paid leave plan, which is essential to
securing families' physical and financial health,
including emergency paid leave policies that would
create a path toward permanent paid leave solutions,
such as reinstating the mandate on emergency paid
leave, and ensuring that it includes employers with
more than 500 employees, and that it can be used for
paid sick, family, and medical leave to help parents
with additional caregiving responsibilities,
including--
(i) when a child or loved one's school or
care center is closed, participating in remote
learning when given a choice, or a hybrid
learning model;
(ii) for people who have or are caring for
people with COVID-19 symptoms or are
quarantining due to exposure;
(iii) for people who themselves are
experiencing health issues due to COVID-19; and
(iv) for people needing to take time to get
the vaccine;
(B) rebuilding and stabilizing the child care
industry, with a vision toward universal child care and
early learning, which are essential to economic
recovery and bolstering women in the labor force,
including immediate investments to--
(i) support and ensure child care programs
do not close their doors permanently and can
reopen;
(ii) provide essential duty pay for child
care workers in programs that remain open
during the crisis;
(iii) safely meet all new regulations; and
(iv) fund Head Start and Early Head Start
to meet sanitation, personnel costs, and
infrastructure needs to deliver programs that
safely serve families during the pandemic;
(C) major investments in our education systems,
which must be made in order to safely reopen schools
and campuses, by providing funding to support and
protect the safety and health of educators, support
staff, students, and families through--
(i) equipping students with hotspots and
devices to help narrow the digital divide and
close the homework gap;
(ii) directing funds for personal
protective equipment and building upgrades;
(iii) putting in place the infrastructure
and resources to test, trace, and isolate new
cases;
(iv) offering mental health resources for
students, families, and staff; and
(v) supplying other investments for
children with disabilities;
(D) access to nutritious food as a health and human
right, including through--
(i) boosting SNAP maximum and minimum
benefits;
(ii) rescinding all SNAP rule changes that
would limit, terminate, or compromise benefits;
and
(iii) increasing funds for school meals and
other nutrition programs to meet an
unprecedented demand;
(E) child poverty reduction tools that are
necessary for families' economic security and must
include recurring child benefits and an expanded and
improved child tax credit and earned income tax credit;
(F) an expanded unemployment insurance program that
must benefit struggling workers, including those
experiencing long-term unemployment;
(G) raising the Federal minimum wage to $15 per
hour or higher for all minimum wage workers; and
(H) access to mental health support for mothers,
which is essential to maintaining the health of the
family; and
(4) United States employers and policymakers must
prioritize addressing the economic cliff facing mothers and
make permanent the aforementioned policies so that mothers are
protected against any future economic calamities.
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