For Immediate Release: April 28, 2021
Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939
Charleston, WV – The President’s announcement of the American Families Plan today, along with his American Jobs Plan, puts us one step closer to seizing the historic opportunity to build a stronger recovery and a more equitable economy. We call on West Virginia’s congressional delegation to move swiftly to build on the President’s robust recovery proposals and craft legislation that improves the health and economic security for all children, families, and working people.
The recently-enacted American Rescue Plan is providing much-needed relief to the people of West Virginia. But that relief is temporary. We can’t stop there – and we can’t focus on traditional infrastructure alone – if we want to build a more just economy for West Virginia families, many of whom will continue to struggle to make ends meet after the pandemic ends.
Economic recovery legislation must build a more equitable economy — one where everyone has health coverage and can get the care they need, where all our children have food on the table and a roof overhead, and where all our families can make ends meet.
The President’s recovery proposals in the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan represent a ground-breaking agenda and include many important policies to create a more equitable economy, including critical extensions of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit, permanent paid family and medical leave, enhancements to our child care system and nutrition infrastructure, and improvements to education affordability.
The WVCBP’s executive director Kelly Allen said, “The President’s recovery proposal represents a transformative vision that would increase economic stability for hundreds of thousands of West Virginians, invest in long-neglected programs and projects that families need, and ensure a more equitable future. West Virginia would see outsized benefits from this plan and our congressional delegation should support this full package which will advance opportunity in our state for many years to come.”
Investing in our people is how families and our economy recover. One estimate found that implementing policies like paid family and medical leave could add $2.4 trillion to our national GDP by 2030. Another study estimates that investment in early childhood development and home-based health care could create twice as many jobs as infrastructure investments per $1 million spent.
Our nation can afford to make the critical investments outlined in President Biden’s American Families Plan and American Jobs Plan — and it can’t afford not to. For decades, people at the very top and corporations have reaped disproportionate gains and used special tax breaks and loopholes to avoid paying all the taxes they owe. It makes sense, as the President has proposed, to ask the wealthiest among us and corporations to pay a fairer share of federal taxes to fund the investments that would help build a more equitable economy that works for all of us.
We urge West Virginia’s congressional delegation to utilize this historic opportunity and enact policies that will permanently change the trajectory of our state for the better by improving opportunities for hundreds of thousands of West Virginia families.
