Today, Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Co-Chairs Congresswomen Jackie Speier (CA-14), Lois Frankel (FL-21), and Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), and Vice Chairs Congresswomen Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Deb Haaland (NM-01) lauded the signing into law of the American Rescue Plan Act, landmark, life-saving legislation that will provide urgently-needed resources to defeat the COVID-19 virus and combat the she-cession that has led to the lowest labor force participation for women in three decades.

“Women have disproportionately borne the brunt of this pandemic, with millions permanently losing their jobs, millions leaving the workforce to serve as the primary caregivers for their families, and millions more employed as the majority of our frontline workers - teachers, health care providers, and grocery store workers. They have been left increasingly vulnerable to domestic violence, homelessness, and other traumas. The American Rescue Plan brings critical relief to women and their families now, when they need it most,” the Members said.

The American Rescue Plan saves lives and livelihoods and delivers needed assistance to help women and families including:

• Making the child tax credit fully refundable for 2021, so that the credit reaches 27 million more American children, and by increasing the annual amount from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for a child under age 6). 
• Cutting child poverty in half and lifting nearly 12 million people out of poverty. Women experience greater rates of poverty and represent over half of Americans living in poverty.
• $170 billion for education and $39 billion through the Child Care and Development Block Grant for child care providers, including $130 billion for K-12 school re-opening so that children can safely return to school and parents are able to work.
• $350 billion for new Coronavirus Relief Funds for states, localities, the U.S. Territories, and the Tribal Governments, including to help keep critical workers like frontline health care workers, police, firefighters, transit workers, teachers, EMS, and other vital workers on the job. Cuts to the public sector workforce since the start of the pandemic has disproportionately impacted women and Black workers.
• Extending Medicaid eligibility to women for 12 months postpartum and offering incentives for Medicaid expansion to the 12 remaining states that have not expanded Medicaid. Medicaid expansion has been crucial for the 1 in 2 women between the ages of 45 and 64 who require ongoing treatment for a chronic health condition and for pregnant women before and after delivery.
• $350 million in funding for Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act programs, $200 million to support survivors of sexual assault, and over $200 million for the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act to address the spikes in domestic violence and child abuse during the pandemic.
• $7.6 billion for community health centers, which are critical for women across the country seeking preventive and reproductive health care.
• $7.6 billion in funding to public health departments to hire 100,000 additional full-time employees into the public health workforce, of which women have made up the majority of the workforce.
• $500 million to deploy strike teams to help nursing home facilities manage outbreaks of COVID-19 when they occur. Women make up the vast majority of the workforce in nursing home facilities and have been working tirelessly to manage the pandemic for their residents.
• $5 billion for emergency housing vouchers to transition those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, survivors of domestic violence, and victims of human trafficking to stable housing.
• $5 billion in Pandemic-EBT so that low-income families have access to school meals and food assistance during both the school year and summer months.
• $1 billion TANF Pandemic Emergency Assistance Fund to be distributed to the states for providing emergency assistance to low-income families with children.
• Extends the payroll tax credit for employers created by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to help employers defray the costs of the paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave required for employees impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Over $14.5 billion for the VA to provide health care services and other related supports to eligible veterans, including suicide prevention, women’s health services, telehealth expansion, and medical facility improvements.

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