American Rescue Plan Will Make Economy Stronger

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASTEN. Mr. Speaker, for the one in eight Americans who will go to bed hungry tonight; for the 60 million Americans out of work and the 40 million who fear they might be evicted tomorrow; for the 2.3 million women, a million mothers, who have left the workforce, the American Rescue Plan is for you.

It will put money directly in your pockets; expand access to affordable healthcare and childcare; extend unemployment insurance and housing and nutrition assistance; and support 27 million children with an expanded child tax credit.

Mr. Speaker, for the 1.4 million public-sector employees who are out of work--our firefighters, our teachers, our frontline public health workers, our first responders--we are going to provide $350 billion for States and localities, including $13.7 billion for my State of Illinois, to get you back to work, too.

We can't fix everything. 524,000 American lives lost to COVID are never coming back. But tomorrow, when we vote to pass the American Rescue Plan, we will honor their memory. We will make things a little easier for their loved ones. We will get their kids back in school safely, their family businesses back in the black, cut child poverty in half, create 4 million new jobs.

Most importantly, we will emerge from this crisis with an economy that is stronger, more equitable, and poised for growth for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues in the House and Senate who made this possible. Let's get this done.

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