Providing for Consideration of H.R. Build Back Better Act; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Build Back Better Act that is before us today, a package of legislation that I believe ranks alongside the New Deal and the Great Society in its impact.

We must pass this legislation. It delivers a once-in-a-generation investment in children, families, and caregivers, and, finally, a scale of investment in combating climate change that cannot wait.

The Build Back Better Act expands and improves the child tax credit, the biggest cut in taxes for working families with children, a groundbreaking and transformative policy that I have been fighting for nearly 20 years. I am proud that families with children under 6 receive $300 a month, and children 6 through 17 receive $250 a month. It is a lifeline for the middle class, and it lifts over 50 percent of children out of poverty. It allows us to emerge from the shadows of the pandemic. It is Social Security for children.

The Build Back Better Act adds to this with a first-time investment in childcare that guarantees that its costs will not exceed 7 percent of income. I am so proud that this package includes paid family and medical leave, which finally responds to the needs of workers and their families so that they can take time off to care for themselves or for a loved one when they are ill.

We have an opportunity to build the architecture for the future for working families in this country. Working and middle-class families across the United States are counting on us to build a better and a stronger America.

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