Transcript of Pelosi Remarks at Care Can’t Wait Coalition Event

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Members of Congress, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Care Can't Wait Coalition for an event in support of transformative investments for care workers. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you, Jenn. It's wonderful to be with you once again and so many others here. Anybody here from California?

[Cheers]

All right – you've come a long way.

And again, I hear all the talk about, ‘It's time for this or that.' Well, it's long overdue. We all know that it's long overdue.

I want to say how honored I am to be with Jenn, once again. With Ai-jen Poo – oh my gosh, she's a heroine – heroine to all of us. To Stacy Kono, for the – Hand in Hand, what they're doing. Dawn Huckelbridge, Director of Paid Leave for All. Stephanie Land, Maid. And all the care workers who are here.

Let's just – let's just talk family. Let's just talk personally here. So many of the people who should be on our bandwagon – because they want to participate in the workforce, and they want to start a business, or this or that – know that their fulfillment can only be reached if we have the health care and the care and respect for the caregivers that we need to have.

‘Do this for yourself,' we say to some of these other voters. ‘Do this for yourself.' When I've had these meetings in San Francisco over the years, Jenn, one of the people who used to be a regular coming to our – making her presentation, would say, ‘You may not think I'm worth $40 an hour. But do you think your mother is worth $40 an hour?'

And people have to know that it translates directly into the well-being of their families, if we treat our caregivers with the respect that they deserve. And part of that respect is the ability to unionize, which we have brought forth in California.

[Applause]

What a moment with the BBB. And we didn't get everything yet, but we're always going to make the fight. You know, to some people it is – they just don't get it. It's incomprehensible to [them] that we would have something so transformative. But to – inconceivable to them, it's inevitable to us. And we have to shorten the distance between the inconceivable and the inevitable. And this is long overdue. We all know, that for everybody to reach their fulfillment, everybody has to reach their fulfillment.

So in other words, we consider this transformative for our economy, because it will enable many more people – moms and dads – to be able to go to work, not just because of care for their children, but care for their siblings or care for their seniors. That people know, when they're in the workforce, that they are being – their family members are getting the care they need. And the workers are getting the respect they deserve.

So let's start with the workers. If the workers get the respect they deserve, everyone will get the care that they need. Not sacrificing your family for their family, but rewarding your family for the work and the opportunity that you give to people to reach their fulfillment. It's all connected.

So this is why, in that bill – we said, this is transformative. We had hundreds of billions of dollars in the bill to start out with, to lift the wages and the respect for home health care workers. The bill got cut, but we still continue to make the fight. And we will not rest until we get to a place that is fair, that is just and that is respectful for our workers. So I know you'll be hearing from many Members of Congress. I'm honored to be here with them and to be here with you.

But thank you, thank you for the fight that you make. Because it's about decency, it's about fairness, and it's about making a difference. Making a difference to help your family, as you help other people's families. Of course, Care Can't Wait!

And that's why we will continue – let me close by saying this: we can only do so much with inside maneuvering. Know your power. The outside mobilization is essential to everything being done right, in the best possible way.

So thank you: for being here, for what you do, but also for the time you take to show the support and to reinforce the idea that Care Can't Wait.

Care Can't Wait! Care Can't Wait!

Crowd. Care Can't Wait! Care Can't Wait!

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you all very much. I have to go to work. Thank you.