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Gillibrand URGES paid family leave through reconciliation bill - YouTube
Channel: The Hill
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senator from new york i rise today to
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join my colleagues in support
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of the build back better plan budget
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resolution
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which recognizes that care
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infrastructure is
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critical infrastructure we know that our
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economy has not been working
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for working families then we saw a
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pandemic
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make a precarious situation even worse
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for families across the entire country
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our economy cannot fully recover
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and will not survive another pandemic or
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health emergency
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if people can't keep their jobs or
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get back to work that won't happen until
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we start providing the economic support
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that we've actually needed for decades
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support like child care universal pre-k
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and universal paid leave paid leave
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is what allows people to keep their jobs
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when they get sick
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it allows parents to stay home with
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children who are ill
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or forced to learn remotely it lets
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hard-working people
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care for their aging parents and right
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now far
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too many people don't have access to it
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more than eight in ten workers lack
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access to paid leave
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and they're often left to make the very
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impossible choices
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of do i care for my loved one do i stay
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by the bedside of my mother as she's
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dying
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or do i earn a paycheck and feed my
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children
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those are choices that we shouldn't be
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forcing the american workforce
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to have to make every single day so this
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budget reconciliation will help
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end the united states reign of being
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the only industrialized country in the
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world
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that doesn't have access to paid family
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and medical leave
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for all workers i've been fighting
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alongside congresswoman
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rosa dolor for years to pass the bill
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our bill is called the family act
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the model for the build back better
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plans paid leave program
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which would provide every nearly every
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worker with up to 12
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weeks of paid leave it will provide
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stability
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to workers to families to companies
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and to our u s economy and now
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this is the moment that we can actually
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make it happen this budget
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also recognizes the essential nature
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of the child care industry nearly 27
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million people rely on child care
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just so they can go to work and feed
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their children
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first child care is not readily
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available
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child care deserts and shortages across
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the country
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leave families without local options
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before the pandemic in new york there
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was one slot for every four children
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that wanted access
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to affordable high quality daycare after
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the pandemic there was one slot
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for every eight children that wanted
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access
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to affordable quality care
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in new york a year of child care
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is often more expensive than a year
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of in-state college tuition those
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problems
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were exacerbated by the pandemic
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staffing at child care centers
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which was already a problem pre pandemic
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is now down
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15 percent this budget will help us make
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the critical
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investments that are so long overdue
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child care investments that ensure
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families have access to high quality
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care
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that costs low and middle income
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families no more
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than seven percent of their income it
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also recognizes the nature
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of child care as essential work
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child care providers are our essential
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workers
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and they deserve a long overdue
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raise this investment is critical to our
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economic recovery
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and will help working parents get back
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to the office get back to their jobs
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and know that their children are safe
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and having
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access to that critical early childhood
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education
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every parent in america knows that if
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their child has the chance from zero to
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five
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to be in early childhood education every
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dollar you put into early childhood
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education
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results in over 11 dollars of benefit to
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society for that
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individual child over their lifetime it
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is such an important
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investment the buildback better plan
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invests in universal pre-k it will not
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only help more parents
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of young children return to work but it
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also ensures
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that those children get that early
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access to early childhood education
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that high quality learning to give them
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access to understanding their numbers
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their letters
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early reading early math that is
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essential for them being able to thrive
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these forms of care infrastructure are
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what make the difference between
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a family surviving or a family
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thriving and that's what this country
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needs to
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actually recover from this global
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pandemic
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these investments are just as important
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as our investments in roads and bridges
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and sewers
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and clean water and clean air and
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high-speed rail and rural broadband
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all of that matters and together
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that's how we recover from this economy
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this is the moment to make this once in
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a generation
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investment in the future of our families
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the future of our middle class the
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future
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of our economy and this is something
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that we can do together
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so i ask all my colleagues to join us in
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getting the build
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back better plan over the finish line
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it's about our families it's about our
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economy
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and most importantly it is about our
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future
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i yield the floor
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