Providing for Consideration of H.Res. Expressing Disapproval of the Trump Administration's Harmful Actions Towards Medicaid; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Protecting the Right to Organize Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief and Puerto Rico Disaster Tax Relief Act, 2020

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of the PRO Act. This much-needed legislation rebalances the economic playing field to give workers a fair shake, and it is long overdue.

Two nights ago, the President stood here and talked about how great the economy is doing, how the stock market is soaring, and unemployment is falling. But the truth on the ground is that people in the middle class and below are not being lifted by this tide. The cost of housing, childcare, education, and other basic essentials are rising at rates not matched by stagnant wages.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a report by the Foundation for Delaware County and Philadelphia Citizens For Children and Youth. Underwater: What's Sinking Families in Delaware County [From PCCY, Public Citizens for Children and Youth, Mar. 2019]

The American Dream is eroding in Delaware County. Incomes that used to provide a comfortable middle class life are no longer enough to even cover the basics. Four in ten families are likely to be underwater if they're raising children. Their financial outlook is bleak--a far cry from the prosperity that their parents enjoyed. And if things continue down this road, their children face a future of continued decline.

Hard-working families earning $50,000, for instance, are likely to be more than $3,000 in debt between child care, health care, housing, utilities, transportation, food, and taxes. And that's with the help of crucial child care and health insurance benefits. Even if these families have no child care needs, they will have less than $7,000 left over after paying for the other essentials. That's under $7,000 for things like clothes, sports teams, birthday presents, summer camps, class trips--just to name a few. Nearly a quarter of families earn this much or less in Delaware County.

Even families who are near the median income--an income that should solidify their middle class status--are drowning. Families making $75,000 a year, for example, are likely to be saddled with over $2,000 in debt after paying for the basics, since they do not receive subsidies for child care and health care. If these families are free from the burden of child care, they would have around $15,000 left after the major basic costs, but this is still hardly enough to cover the additional everyday costs for the children and parents. On top of that, these families have little money, if any, to save for things like retirement or college for their children, not to mention any emergency costs that may spring up. Nearly 40% of families in Delaware County make this much or less.

The parents in these struggling families bank on the hope that their children can move up the economic ladder, becoming more prosperous as adults than they, the parents, were. The surest way for children to achieve that upward mobility is to get a good education. Unfortunately, many Delaware County schools are in a similar boat as many families, struggling to find the resources to provide students with the skills they need to be upwardly mobile.

The mandated costs of pensions, special education and charter school payments are skyrocketing, growing by $223 million in Delaware County school districts since 2010. Meanwhile State funding for these districts has grown by just $107 million, forcing districts to make up the difference through local property tax increases. Even with these tax increases, most districts are unable to get more money in the classroom.

The funding challenges translate to academic struggle. The majority of students in the county--58%--fail the math PSSA, and 39% fail in reading. These figures are even worse in the districts with high shares of low income students, where 75% of students fail the math exam and 52% fail in reading.

The bleak situation facing Delaware County families will only change with large-scale action. History teaches us that bold policies can overcome massive problems facing society and lead to huge gains in the quality of life for all. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer notes in discussing these types of policy changes, ``[If we have a] sense of `we've got to do the right thing' . . . everything can turn out better for everybody. But if you just are complacent, say `it'll work itself out,' you are not going to be happy with the outcome.'' Delaware County families cannot afford complacency. The following policies must be implemented, or the cycle of financial stress will never end. The children in these struggling families will become the next generation of struggling families. The American Dream will become the American Drain.

To boost families' incomes:

Create a workforce development strategy to help people move into higher paying jobs.

Increase the State government's payments to agencies that employ low-wage, government-funded professionals, such as Direct Support Professionals and child care workers, so that wages are at least $15 an hour and ideally $18 an hour, to increase the ability of these professionals to stay above water while supporting a family.

To reduce the child care and early education cost burden:

Increase funding for Child Care Works, Pre-K Counts and Head Start.

Expand eligibility for Child Care Works.

Implement full day kindergarten in all school districts.

To reduce the health care cost burden:

Expand eligibility for free and subsidized Children's Health Insurance Program.

Preserve the Affordable Care Act.

To reduce the cost burden of other living expenses:

Create more affordable transportation through mobility planning at the County level.

Create affordable housing strategies at the County level.

To reduce the tax burden on financially struggling families:

Expand Pennsylvania's Tax Forgiveness program to incomes of at least $75,000.

Offset property taxes by increasing State funding for public schools.

To improve the financial outlook of public schools:

Increase State K-12 basic education and special education funding.

Restore the State's charter school reimbursement to school districts.

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, according to that report released in October, families in my district in Pennsylvania are being left underwater due to the high cost of living and debt they are forced to incur in order to make ends meet in this economy. A family making the median income of $75,000 is likely to be $2,000 under water at year's end.

The middle class is shrinking, and it is clear to see why. The economic divide in the United States has reached unprecedented levels, wealth is concentrated at the very top, and it is not trickling down. Workers have seen their rights stripped, their wages cut, and their dignity taken away.

Over the past three decades the average income for the bottom 90 percent of families, increased by 1.1 percent. During this same period, the average income for the wealthiest 1 percent nearly doubled.

Put simply, workers responsible for wealth creation in this country are not seeing their fair share. Over that same 30-year period, we have seen the percentage of American workers in unions steadily decline, not because people don't want to join unions and take part in the higher average salaries and better benefit structure they are likely to receive. No, it is a direct result of relentless coordinating and well- funded antiunion attacks from corporations and special interests.

Cynically misnamed right-to-work laws have harmed workers and their families. No one in this country is forced to join a union, but the fact is, states with higher numbers of union membership also have higher average salaries for all workers.

This bill would weaken antilabor State laws and close other loopholes that corporations use to exploit workers. The PRO Act will restore some fairness to the American economy and give workers a seat at the bargaining table they rightly deserve. It will introduce meaningful and forceable penalties for companies that violate workers' rights. No longer will companies be able to exploit employees' labor, betting that a toothless NLRB will only give them a slap on the wrist.

This bill would ensure that employees have the right to collectively bargain with companies that control the terms and conditions of their employment. One of the misleading arguments being made against this bill is that it will affect privacy. That is not true.

Madam Speaker, I proudly support this rule and the underlying bill, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support.

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