Money References

• That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to dramatically expand and strengthen the care economy, healing and supporting the country as we continue to recover from the COVID–19 pandemic and face the challenges of the 21st century and beyond; (2) the obligation described in paragraph (1) can only be met with far-reaching public investments, designed to achieve the goals of— (A) repairing the wrongs of history, including by— (i) acknowledging and addressing the legacies of exclusion and oppression faced by caregivers and care workers, particularly women of color and immigrants; (ii) acknowledging and addressing the trauma of all those with unmet care needs, such as— (I) people of color, including Black, Brown, and Indigenous people; (II) Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; (III) immigrant, limited English proficiency, LGBTQIA+, older, low-income, rural, and deindustrialized communities; (IV) people with disabilities; (V) people who are unemployed, under-employed, and unhoused; (VI) people who are incarcerated or who were formerly incarcerated; (VII) veterans; (VIII) survivors of abuse; and (IX) children and young people coping with economic and climate disruption; and (iii) approaching care policy as part of a broader agenda of dismantling systemic racism, sexism, economic inequality, and other forms of oppression, alongside efforts to achieve truth and reconciliation, reparations, decarceration, restorative justice, Indigenous sovereignty, a fair and humane immigration system, demilitarization, a Federal jobs guarantee, and economic, environmental, and climate justice for all; (B) raising pay, benefits, protections, and standards for existing care workers, such that— (i) care jobs are family sustaining, paying substantially more than $17 an hour and offering generous benefits; (ii) all care workers have— (I) the right, and have pathways, to unionize; (II) the ability to engage in collective action; and (III) full labor protections, including those specified in the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act; (iii) all care workers have access to adequate paid family and medical leave that includes paid safe leave and paid sick time; (iv) all care workers who wish to form worker-owned cooperatives have access to resources and technical support with which to do so; (v) all care workers have access to ample training opportunities, apprenticeships, and career ladders leading to higher compensation, along with other resources and support, including funding to facilitate those opportunities; (vi) all care workers have the mandated employer protections they need to conduct their work safely in general, and in the event of a pandemic, infectious disease outbreak, or other disaster, including having optimal personal protective equipment, optimal isolation protocols, testing and contact tracing, and paid days off due to exposure or illness; (vii) all care workers are safe from workplace violence, harassment, and threats to health; and (viii) all undocumented workers have pathways to citizenship and full and equal access to all public benefits, including health, nutrition, and income support; (C) creating millions of new care jobs over the next decade, including as part of existing and new public jobs programs, subject to the same principles in subparagraph (B), in the context of the Green New Deal, public health and emergency preparedness needs, and any similar efforts to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century; (D) building and expanding zero-carbon, non-polluting, climate-safe infrastructure, both physical infrastructure and social infrastructure, to guarantee care to all people throughout the life cycle, moving the United States toward universal, public programs ensuring— (i) high-quality health care, including comprehensive and noncoercive mental health care coverage, substance use treatment, and reproductive care, free at the point of service; (ii) free, high-quality home and community-based services, without income or asset tests and without waiting lists, which would fix the institutional bias of the current system, and allow people with disabilities and older adults to receive needed support and live self-directed lives; (iii) free, high-quality childcare and early childhood education including appropriate attention to the unique needs of children and families in the first 1,000 days of life, and robust, culturally responsive, and diverse care settings to achieve healthy child development; (iv) paid family and medical leave of at least 6 months, with full wage replacement, job protection, and a recognition of all types of families, as well as paid safe leave and paid sick time; and (v) additional support for unpaid caregivers, people with disabilities, older adults, and children, with the goal of eradicating child poverty; and (E) building and expanding other zero-carbon, non-polluting, climate-safe infrastructure and jobs that are intimately connected to the care infrastructure described in subparagraph (D), to meet the fundamental material, developmental, emotional, and social needs of all people, including— (i) clean air and water; (ii) public, permanently affordable, and dignified housing and transit systems, integrated with adequate social services to support residents of all ages and abilities; (iii) safe, accessible infrastructure, including public accommodations, schools, workplaces, housing, transit, and streets allowing for full mobility for all people; (iv) public education, with a focus on social and emotional learning, unleashing creativity in the arts and sciences, and educating and nurturing the whole child, and including fully funded programs for high-need students; (v) healthy, nourishing, and sustainable food systems that provide affordable, accessible, and culturally appropriate foods; (vi) comprehensive public health and emergency preparedness infrastructure, including equitable, democratic response and recovery efforts during and after climate disasters; (vii) clear opportunities for, and the removal of barriers to, unionization and collective action in all economic sectors, including the service, technology, and gig work sectors; (viii) a Federal minimum wage of at least $17 an hour, indexed to the cost of living, and the elimination of subminimum wages for people with disabilities, tipped workers, and all other workers; (ix) expanded leisure time, with no loss in pay or benefits; (x) generous paid sick time, paid safe leave, paid family and medical leave, and vacation time, with full wage replacement, job protection, and a recognition of all types of families; (xi) support for worker ownership, worker-owned cooperatives, and safety and democracy in the workplace, so that workers have meaningful influence over their conditions of work and the decisions that affect their lives; (xii) adequate public services and programs to support all people in navigating economic and social challenges, including navigating life on a rapidly warming planet, and to help all people unleash their full potential as human beings; (xiii) public libraries, community centers, and other spaces that foster creativity, connection, well-being, and human development; (xiv) support for practicing and aspiring artists, as well as institutions, venues, and platforms that empower and fairly compensate artists, bringing their work to wider audiences, and integrating the arts into community well-being, education, and resilience efforts; (xv) access to nature, public space, diverse forms of public recreation, and technology, including public broadband internet; and (xvi) mechanisms for democratic oversight of data, algorithmic, and technological systems, along with worker and community participation in the development and application of those systems, in service of expanding and improving care and social infrastructures; (3) all public health, care-related, and economic legislation must prioritize and invest in care infrastructure as a down payment on building an interconnected, holistic caregiving system that— (A) is the backbone of the economy and essential to all people; and (B) celebrates the interdependence of all people; (4) unpaid caregivers deserve pay and support, care workers deserve quality, high-paying, union jobs, people with disabilities and older adults deserve independence and self-determination, and every person, at every stage of life, deserves to live, work, play, and care with dignity; and (5) our ultimate aim is to build an economy and society based on care for people, communities, and the planet we all share. ---