Hilda L. Solis: “I also rise today in strong opposition to this unfair rule. I am strongly disappointed that my friends on the other side…”

“I also rise today in strong opposition to this unfair rule. I am strongly disappointed that my friends on the other side of the aisle decided that a debate about the future of working families, working poor families in this country does not deserve more than a few hours of discussion. And I am disappointed that they decided that amendments on important issues like child care and restoration of benefits for legal immigrants, legal immigrants, does not deserve to be heard on the floor of this House. These are vital issues to my community. In Los Angeles County alone, there is a child care crisis. Only 16 percent of the children in my community there receive child care. And for a family earning the minimum wage in my community, it takes about 61 percent of their income just to place one infant in child care. So I attempted to offer an amendment to allow mothers who are receiving welfare benefits and have infant children or a child or a disabled child to stay at home and care for that child because it is so costly to place these children in child care. It is hard to get, and it costs a lot of money. This request was denied.”