UDW members endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President because of her strong support for better wages, health care, retirement security, and other benefits for home care and child care providers.
She has long championed policies that would help care providers and make these services more affordable for working families.
In 2021, as Vice President, Harris cast the deciding vote on the American Rescue Plan[1], federal legislation that resulted in historic investments in child care and home care, such as:
- Expanding the federal Child Tax Credit so that 40 million working families received the largest credit in history.[2]
- Sending out these Credits each month instead of at the end of the year. This cut child poverty in half to its lowest rate ever – 5.2%.[3]
- Sending stimulus payments of $1400 to each income tax filer and $1400 for each dependent child.[4] This followed payments made under the CARES Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act. In total, income tax filers received $3200 each, with $2500 for each dependent child.
- Funding over 225,000 child care providers to keep their centers open.[5]
- Lowering child care costs by $1,250 per child and increasing wages for child care workers by 10%.[6]
- Sending $3 billion in Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) funds to California to expand access to home care and improving the quality of caregiving jobs.[7]
- These funds were used to create the In Home‑ Supportive Services (IHSS) Career Pathways, which provided specialized training to IHSS providers. It also was used to send Heroes Pay checks of $500 to IHSS providers.[8]
Vice President Harris also cast the tie breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. The law included groundbreaking policies to make health care more affordable for California families and seniors.[9]
Specifically, the law
- Extended health insurance subsidies for income-eligible Californians, saving consumers an average of $800 per year on their health insurance premiums.[10]
- Created new limits on prescription drug price increases and capped monthly insulin costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $35—providing certainty and critical cost savings for Californians, many of whom were paying as much as $400 for a month’s supply of insulin.
- Capped out of pocket costs to Medicare recipients, which led to 1.8 million seniors with the highest drug costs, including seniors being treated for cancer and other serious diseases, saving an average of $2,500 per year.
In 2024, the Biden/Harris Administration reduced childcare costs for low-income families by finalizing a new rule that will reduce or eliminate copayments for more than 100,000 working families.[11]
If elected this November, Harris has proposed these new investments in child care and home care.
The historic Medicare at Home Plan announced by the Harris and Walz campaign on October 8 would allow Medicare enrollees for the first time ever to receive assistance with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and eating, enabling them to safely stay in their own homes and maintain their independence.[12] The plan includes improving wages for home care workers.
She has pledged to limit the amount working families pay for childcare to 7% of their total income.[13]
She will work to restore the expanded child tax credit for working families, which expired after the pandemic. This would increase the maximum credit from $2,000 (where it stands now) to $3,600 per child and, just as important, make it available to very low-income families, who currently do not qualify for the full amount.[14]
She plans to create a $6,000 benefit for parents of newborns, as well as provide up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time home buyers.[15]
As a caregiver to her mother who was battling colon cancer, Kamala Harris understands that care providers are the backbone of the American economy. We see a bright Future of Care with a President Harris.
[1] Astor, Maggie. “‘The vice president votes in the affirmative’: Here’s how Kamala Harris broke her first Senate tie.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/kamala-harris-senate-vote.html Accessed 9-30-24.
[2] The White House. “The American Rescue Plan (ARP): Top Highlights from 3 Years of Recovery.” March 11, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/11/the-american-rescue-plan-arp-top-highlights-from-3-years-of-recovery/#:~:text=American%20Rescue%20Plan’s%20Expansion%20of,through%20the%20Affordable%20Care%20Act. Accessed 9-30-24.
[3] The 177th United States Congress. “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. March 11, 2021. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1319 Accessed 9-30-24.
[4] Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Update: Three rounds of stimulus checks. See how many went out and for how much. https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/data-interactive-tools/data-stories/update-three-rounds-stimulus-checks-see-how-many-went-out-and Accessed 9-30-24.
[5] The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Administration for Children and Families. “ARP Child Care Stabilization Funding State and Territory Fact Sheets (June 2023).” June 30th, 2023. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/map/arp-act-stabilization-funding-state-territory-fact-sheets#:~:text=The%20ARP%20Child%20Care%20Stabilization%20Program%20helped%20more%20than%20225%2C000,supplies%3B%20and%20cleaning%20and%20sanitation. Accessed 9-30-24.
[6] The White House. March 11, 2024.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4469
[9] The White House. “Fact Sheet: One Year In, President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Is Driving Historic Climate Action and Investing in America to Create Good Paying Jobs and Reduce Costs.” August 16th, 2023. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/08/16/fact-sheet-one-year-in-president-bidens-inflation-reduction-act-is-driving-historic-climate-action-and-investing-in-america-to-create-good-paying-jobs-and-reduce-costs/ Accessed 9-30-24.
[10] Ibid.
[11] The White House. “Vice President Harris Announces Action to Lower Child Care Costs for More than 100,000 Families”. February 29,2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/29/fact-sheet-vice-president-harris-announces-action-to-lower-child-care-costs-for-more-than-100000-families/
[12] Harris Walz 2024 Campaign. “Fact Sheet: A Historic Medicare at Home Plan to Support the Sandwich Generation.” https://mailchi.mp/kamalaharris.com/fact-sheet-a-historic-medicare-at-home-plan-to-support-the-sandwich-generation Accessed 10-9-24.
[13] Harris Waltz 2024 Campaign Issues. “Cut Taxes for Middle Class Families.” https://kamalaharris.com/issues/ Accessed 9-27-24.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Harris Waltz 2024 Campaign Issues. “Make Rent More Affordable and Home Ownership More Attainable.” https://kamalaharris.com/issues/ Accessed 9-27-24.
