Democratic Leadership, Steering & Policy Committee, DWC Call To Strengthen The Care Economy & Protect The ACA At Hearing
**Watch the hearing here**
Yesterday, House Democratic Leadership, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) held a hearing on the urgent need to strengthen America’s care economy and extend life-saving health care tax credits that help millions of women and families afford rising health and caregiving costs.
At the hearing, Members joined advocates and storytellers to call attention to the need to support caregivers and those they care for. Through cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, caregivers—integral to our families and our economy—may lose their health care. And without health care, careworkers may have to leave the jobs they love. Democratic Women’s Caucus members and House Democrats are laser focused on protecting health care for care workers and building a strong care economy.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) on Trump and Republicans’ affordability crisis:
“Donald Trump and Republicans began this year by promising to lower costs on day one. But costs haven't gone down, they're going up. Inflation is going up. Electricity bills are up. Housing costs are up. Groceries are up. Child care costs are up. The Trump tariffs are costing everyday Americans thousands of dollars in additional expenses per year. And now, in the midst of this full blown affordability crisis, Republicans are refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. That's why we're here today, fighting for all of you, the American people, who are confronting this intense assault on the economy, on healthcare, on nutritional assistance, on women, children and families, and on the American way of life.”
Democratic Steering & Policy Co-Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) on how Republicans’ agenda disproportionately impacts women:
“Republicans can’t make it anymore clear that they don’t care what working Americans are up against right now. I’m glad our witnesses and the Democratic Women’s Caucus are here today to tell the true reality of this and what it means for women. Because women are the foundation of the care economy and this vicious Republican agenda is about to crush us. The Republicans’ agenda will rip coverage away from as many as 15 million Americans in their Big Ugly Law, and by letting these ACA enhanced premium tax credits expire. And when hospitals close or Republicans push people off their Medicaid payments or slash billions in Medicare funds, it's women and working families who feel it first, and worst.”
Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03) on the essential role caregivers play in our communities:
“Without the caregivers of this world, we couldn’t be here today. Women across this country need childcare, Head Start, in-home care, and nursing homes, because without them, the duty and obligation to care for those we love would fall mostly on us, the women of America, and we could not go to work. We could not show up here to do our job today and every day. I look out at today’s panels and see people who represent and epitomize the most human element of our nature. Caregivers. Those who bring tenderness, understanding and patience to the task of watching our children while we are at work. Those who help our loved ones get out of bed, bathe, and take their medications in the home they don’t want to, and should not have to, leave. And then those caregivers, who show up every day at nursing homes and memory care facilities, create bonds with their patients that go beyond the manual task at hand, bring stability and friendship to children with special needs, and familiarity to Alzheimers patients.”
Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-05) on Republicans attacks on the most vulnerable:
“It has never been easy to get by as a parent, as a caregiver, but now it is becoming virtually impossible. The math just simply doesn’t work. 20% of counties in this country don’t have a hospital. 35% don’t have anywhere for a woman to give birth. Most Americans live in a child care desert. 60% of American households are struggling to provide the basics. And what have we seen as the Republican response to this? Taxed groceries, deliberately withholding funding from SNAP, dismantling Head Start, defunding Medicaid, hiking ACA premiums, closing more hospitals and making life harder and more expensive while Trump gets a ballroom, Bezos gets a yacht, and crypto billions get a burden and a tax break to go with it. It is cruel and it is corrupt, and it disproportionately hurts two groups of people: one, the most vulnerable, the sick, and the disabled, our seniors, and two, it disproportionately hurts communities represented by Republicans.”
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