Senator Murray Statement on Historic Home Care Investment in the American Jobs Plan

Senator Murray: “Democrats understand that in the same way we need roads and bridges, helping working families manage caregiving responsibilities, ensuring people with disabilities and older Americans get the care they need to live independently, and investing in the home care workforce are critical parts of our economic recovery.”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the historic investment in home- and community-based services for people with disabilities and older Americans—and the workers who provide this care—included in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

“This country has long had a caregiving crisis—I hear from people with disabilities and older Americans who can’t get the care they need or are relegated to institutions, women who are dropping out of the workforce to care for loved ones, and caregivers—who are disproportionately women of color—who aren’t getting the wages or benefits they deserve. While this caregiving crisis has always made life harder for working families and families of color, the pandemic has made it even more clear just how desperately our country needs a caregiving infrastructure—as I heard just yesterday from Washington state caregivers I met with.

“The investment in home care in the American Rescue Plan was an important down payment to get us through this crisis, and I’m thrilled that the American Jobs Plan marks a historic shift in how we value this care and this essential workforce—which has been undervalued and underpaid for far too long. Democrats understand that in the same way we need roads and bridges, helping working families manage caregiving responsibilities, ensuring people with disabilities and older Americans get the care they need to live independently, and investing in the home care workforce are critical parts of our economic recovery.”

###