On Friday, July 24th at 12:15 p.m. CT, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will host a roundtable with Nebraska leaders to discuss the third plank of Vice President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” economic recovery plan: building a robust 21st century caregiving and education workforce.
Biden’s economic recovery plan won’t just build back our economy to the way it was before, but build it back better – including by building a robust 21st century caregiving and education workforce. As a first step, Biden will immediately provide states, tribal, and local governments with the fiscal relief they need to keep workers employed and keep vital public services running, including direct care and child care services.
Once we are able to move from relief to recovery, Biden will make substantial investments in the infrastructure of care in our country — to make child care more affordable and accessible for working families, and to make it easier for aging relatives and loved ones with disabilities to have quality, affordable home- or community-based care. And, he is proposing to give 1 caregiving workers and early childhood educators a raise and stronger benefits, treating them as the professionals they are.
Biden will:
- Expand access to a broad array of long-term services and supports in local settings, including through closing the gaps in Medicaid for home- and community-based services and establishing a state innovation fund for creative, cost-effective direct care services.
- Ensure access to high-quality, affordable child care, and offer universal preschool to three-and four-year-olds through greater investment, expanded tax credits, and sliding-scale subsidies.
- Build safe, energy-efficient, developmentally appropriate child care facilities, including in workplaces, so that parents and guardians never again have to search in vain for a suitable child care option.
- Treat caregivers and early childhood educators with respect and dignity, and give them the pay and benefits they deserve, training and career ladders to higher-paying jobs, the choice to join a union and bargain collectively, and other fundamental work-related rights and protections.
