Congresswoman Jacobs Speaks on House Floor on Child Poverty Measures in American Rescue Plan, Need for Further Investments in Children and Child Care
Today, Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53) spoke on the House floor, celebrating the historic measures in the American Rescue Plan to reduce childhood poverty and calling for further investments.
In her remarks, Congresswoman Jacobs called for making the Child Tax Credit expansion and refundability permanent and for revitalizing our child care infrastructure. Ending childhood poverty and achieving universal child care are two of Congresswoman Jacobs’ top priorities in Congress, and she was a leader in ensuring the Child Tax Credit increase and support for child care was included in the final American Rescue Plan. According to analysis from Columbia University, the American Rescue Plan will reduce child poverty in the United States by half.
Congresswoman Jacobs serves as the Founding Chair of San Diego for Every Child, a coalition dedicated to ending the experience of child poverty in San Diego County, which she founded in 2018. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the coalition adapted their mission to serve San Diegans in crisis — mobilizing funding to support child care for essential workers and co-chairing the Equitable Distance Learning Task Force to support local students.
To view Congresswoman Jacobs’ remarks click here: Twitter, YouTube.
The remarks from Congresswoman Jacobs are as follows:
Madam Speaker, before COVID-19, more than 40% of San Diego kids were already living in families experiencing poverty.
Childhood poverty was a problem before COVID hit, and we know it’s only worsened through this pandemic.
American kids deserve better.
That’s why I was so proud to fight for them through the American Rescue Plan and so proud to see the bill signed into law last week.
The American Rescue Plan makes historic investments to increase the Child Tax Credit and support our child care infrastructure to help working families and our care workers.
These investments will be transformational – cutting childhood poverty in half and lifting a heavy burden off the shoulders of so many parents.
Today, I celebrate this incredible progress. And today, I commit myself to working to support the 5 million American children who will still experience poverty.
Let’s make the Child Tax Credit increases permanent. Let’s revitalize our child care infrastructure. And let’s do right by America’s kids.
I yield back.