Biden #SOTU a Hit Parade of Support for the Issues that Matter Most to America’s Moms
Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996
“In his powerful and pointed State of the Union speech tonight, President Biden lifted the policies that matter most to moms. America's moms cheered as he renewed his commitment to building the care infrastructure our country urgently needs, including child care, paid family and medical leave, aging and disability care, and fair pay for all care workers; as well as to improving our health, economic security, and safety; ending discrimination and hate of all kinds; making our tax code more equitable; driving down costs; and making it possible for businesses, families, and our economy to thrive. America’s moms strongly support the President’s agenda because we know the state of our union can only be strong when we can care for our families, work in the jobs we need, help boost the economy, and have access to health care, including reproductive and abortion care.
“President Biden demonstrated again tonight that he too is determined to restore our reproductive rights and secure our access to reproductive health care, including abortion and IVF. Moms know the suffering the U.S. Supreme Court unleashed with its appalling ruling in Dobbs is immense and multi-faceted, and it has put the health, fertility and lives of moms and the economic security of families all over this country in grave peril. We were assured tonight that President Biden is fighting by our sides for our freedoms.
“Moms are tremendously heartened, as well, by the Biden/Harris administration’s historic commitment to making quality child care affordable, guaranteeing paid family and medical leave for all, and putting aging and disability care within reach for all families, reaffirmed tonight. We applaud the President’s support for expanding the Child Tax Credit to bring more children and families out of poverty and tonight’s strong call to reform our tax system so the wealthiest individuals and corporations finally pay their fair share so we can invest in the care economy.
“We cheer the administration’s actions to increase the number of people with insurance and cut the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs, and the fact that the Biden/Harris administration is doing all it can to end gun violence and is persevering to reduce the burden of student debt, despite an adverse ruling from SCOTUS.
“We recognize and applaud the President’s commitment to protecting our democracy, including by protecting civil and voting rights and ending police violence. We encourage him to invest in public health interventions for community safety as opposed to policing. Community-based solutions, grounded in care, education, economic security, affordable housing, violence prevention, and health are effective ways for us to have safe, healthy, just communities. We agree with President Biden that the GOP is playing politics and proposing extremist policies instead of trying to actually fix our immigration system – and we appreciate him for calling attention to this hypocrisy. America’s moms want an orderly, secure border, robust legal immigration, a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and care workers, and for every asylum seeker to be treated with compassion, dignity, and respect. We recognize that immigrants not only are our family members, friends, and neighbors but also essential care workers and huge contributors to our communities and our economy. We are looking for balanced and constructive solutions that protect immigrant children and families.
“The President showed once again tonight that he understands the issues that matter most to moms and families, to businesses and the economy, and to our nation. With support from Congress, the initiatives he outlined will make moms, families, businesses, our economy, and our country much stronger and more successful. Moms are counting on Congress to get on board.”