Press Releases

(As Prepared for Delivery)

M. Speaker, I proudly stand in strong support of the American Rescue Plan.

This pandemic has been ruthless. With over half a million lives lost, we are a nation in a constant state of mourning. Sadly, we cannot take away the pain and the suffering of our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. But with this seismic legislation, we are delivering much-needed relief to millions of our fellow Americans.

In a few hours we will pass, and then send to the President, a monumental piece of legislation that will begin to turn the tide on an unprecedented health and economic crisis.

In the 33 years that I’ve served in Congress, I don’t think I have cast a more important – a more consequential- vote than this vote today.

I am immensely proud of the work that the Ways and Means Committee put in to make this legislation a reality.  We heard the American people and we went big. We proudly contributed substantial solutions that will strengthen our recovery from this virus and rebuild our economy to work better for all Americans.

To contain the public health crisis and make health coverage more accessible, we are making the largest expansion of the Affordable Care Act since it was enacted. We are bringing down costs for jobless Americans, saving them thousands in health insurance costs, and more. We also include assistance for nursing homes, that are desperate to contain this virus.  

We are going to keep those struggling afloat by putting cash in their pockets. And for the jobless, we extend federal unemployment benefits to keep them afloat for the better days that lie ahead.

We’ve made three key tax credits for low- and middle-income workers and families more generous, more flexible, and more capable of tackling inequality in this country.  And we already know that a key to our recovery will be giving parents the tools to go back to work even though their previous child care may have been upended. We will ease their worries by making child care more accessible and affordable.

The Child Tax Credit will lift millions out of poverty, and the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit will put money back into the pockets of our lowest-income workers.

All in all, these provisions will increase the after-tax income of the poorest 20% of Americans by 20%. Truly life-changing.

Lastly, we are making a long overdue fix to multiemployer pension programs that will protect the hard-earned savings of workers, many of whom have been on the frontlines of this crisis. These are people who have worked day in and day out with the promise of a secure retirement, just to have that pulled from under them.

I cannot stress this enough—these provisions are going to change lives.

I know we are doing the right thing. Not only because it’s what we’ve been saying we would do for years. Or because it has the support of experts from left, right, and center. But because it’s what the American people want. Let me be clear: the American people – regardless of political affiliation - overwhelmingly support this package because they know it’s what we need to get to the other side of this crisis and emerge even stronger than before.

I regret that this overwhelming support has not translated to unity here in Congress. 

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have deemed workers who saw their entire industry evaporate unworthy. They’ve deemed working parents unworthy. And they have deemed working and middle-class Americans unworthy.

Instead, we have been met with a lot of talk about this package being too large or too expensive.  But if there were ever a time to go big shouldn’t this be it? Shouldn’t struggling American families be worth a bill of this size? 

I seem to recall my colleagues found that wealthy Americans and corporations were worth a bill of this size. So why not working and middle class Americans who are facing a health and economic crisis unlike anything we have seen before? 

I actually have some charts that I think highlight the difference here. We have two comparisons of who benefits in the American Rescue Plan and who benefitted in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

As you can see, the benefits that my colleagues across the aisle will oppose today go directly to working- and middle-class Americans.

But, in a package nearly the same size, that had overwhelming support across the aisle, the majority of the benefits went directly to the top.

Multiple reports highlighted how the tax cuts bill did not—as proponents claimed—grow the economy or pay for itself. And yet my colleagues continue to stand behind that law that put corporations and the wealthy first while they roundly dismiss today’s package.

The hardworking American people have been left behind for too long. That ends here.

This bill will save lives and livelihoods. We will help families stay housed, put food on the table, and access affordable health care. Most importantly, this package will help families avoid impossible choices.

And so, I urge all my colleagues to rise to this historic moment and to support this important legislation.

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