The Care Economy

Floor Speech

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Ms. BARRAGAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

I am here to talk about the Build Back Better agenda and two specific aspects that I want to highlight, some of which have been covered today, and to share some of my personal story.

The investments in home care and paid family and medical leave are personal to me, to my constituents, and to the American people.

Not just American workers get paid family medical leave benefits from their jobs. My sister, a Federal worker, is a nurse. She helps deliver babies at a military hospital in Colorado. Last November she was diagnosed with cancer. We are about the same age. She is a couple years older than I am. All of a sudden, we learned there is no paid family medical leave.

So what do people have to do?

They either have to leave their job, or go without pay, or in this case ask co-workers to donate their leave and their time so that somebody who is fighting cancer can actually focus on fighting cancer and getting better. And that is just wrong.

In America we need to take care of our workers. That is why I think it is so critically important that we include in reconciliation the paid family and medical leave. Unfortunately, most workers are forced to give up their wages and leave work to deal with health crises for themselves or loved ones. And this is true especially for women and women of color.

My sister's story is not unique. It is happening to workers across the country. So I am committed to making sure that we fight to keep these provisions in the Build Back Better agenda.

Secondly, caregivers, the home- and community-based care system is so critically important, especially for those on Medicaid and the disabled. This very year my own mother was able to qualify and get it after being on a waiting list for 8 months. It's not easy though, when you need that in-home care. This is a program that helps patients stay in their homes, as many older Americans wish to do and can't, so this program will be expanded.

But we also need to increase wages for those who are providing the care, because the wages just don't cut it. We know there is a shortage of healthcare workers now and providers. I have been dealing with this every day. Just last night I had to get on a red-eye.

Why?

To help provide some of that care.

So we need this human investment in people and to provide that care in home.

We saw what happened with COVID and what it did to those in institutions and nursing homes. If we can avoid that and have people in their homes, then we should expand this program and support it.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the American economy has lost more than 500,000 jobs in the caregiving industry, and we are seeing firsthand how hard it is to hire. So investing in this is going to expand that. It is going to make this available to more Americans and those in need, whether you are an older American, Madam Speaker, or you are disabled.

In conclusion, by investing in families and our care economy, we will show compassion to those in need, improve care, and help women get back into the workforce. The investments in the Build Back Better package will be meaningful for our families and transformational for our economy.

Let's keep them--not cut them--for people like my mother who has severe Alzheimer's and for the rest of Americans who need that care.

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