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BUILD BACK BETTER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia) for 5 minutes.
Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, Build Back Better. Three simple words, yet these words mean so much to my constituents and many Americans across the country.
Building back better means that 96 percent of children in my district benefit from a permanent and expanded child tax credit. Yes, you heard right: 96 percent of the children in my district.
Recently, Secretary Yellen told us that the child tax credit has already reduced poverty in our country by 25 percent, just with the first three checks. Imagine what continuation of this important program will do.
This is huge for American families who are struggling to put food on the table, with Latino and Black families suffering the most. The child tax credit would help the parents of almost 8.8 million children nationwide who are going hungry during this pandemic.
Madam Speaker, now is the moment. It is time to do better for our children.
The Build Back Better agenda will bring universal pre-K to our kids and end childcare deserts, an issue that affects children and families in my district and across America. Without pre-K or childcare, parents are forced to choose between their family or their job.
In fact, just a few months ago, I visited a childcare facility that struggled to keep up with the demand due to the lack of childcare infrastructure in Houston. We need to invest in this critical infrastructure for children, for working parents, and for care workers.
Madam Speaker, care workers are essential. They care for our loved ones every day and keep this country running. We need to build back better with investments for our care workers so that their families can have better futures. We need to build back better for the almost one in two adults over 65 in Texas with multiple chronic medical conditions.
Altogether, the Build Back Better agenda will make sure that millions of people in this country and in my home State of Texas gain affordable healthcare coverage. I represent a district that struggles to get vital coverage because the Republican-controlled State government has refused to accept the Federal dollars to expand Medicaid. This is how we build back better for the people who need critical care.
Families deserve that. They also deserve to unlock the American Dream through affordable housing so they can live with dignity. We need investments in first-generation home buyers and affordable housing, housing vouchers, and more infrastructure so that families can say ``mi casa es su casa.''
The Build Back Better agenda will do just that, but we must work hard. We must work hard to also provide a pathway to citizenship for the hundreds and thousands of Dreamers, TPS holders, and essential workers. They have been contributing to our economy, keeping this country running, and making it prosper.
The Build Back Better agenda will deliver on the American Dream promise and the values on which this Nation of immigrants was founded. It would fulfill the ``give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.''
The Build Back Better agenda is an American agenda fulfilling this promise. The Build Back Better agenda is by and for the American people that will allow our country, our families, and our women to heal from this horrible pandemic and build back better with wealthy people and corporations paying their fair share.
This is why we are here in Congress, fighting for the people, fighting for our children, and building a better future so our mothers can rejoin the workforce, so our seniors can get care that will allow them to live with dignity, so our children can get the care they need without having to worry about poverty or going to school hungry, so our families can say ``mi casa es su casa'' and live with dignity in their own homes.
This is how we build back better for all. Our country doesn't leave anyone behind, so this is how we honor the 329.5 million Americans: building back better for everyone. This is how we honor every single one of them.
Madam Speaker, our time is now. We must get this done. So let's go and build back better now.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 188
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