Janice Schakowsky: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. The Democratic Caucus--and I see that now we have all three of the leaders of that…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. The Democratic Caucus--and I see that now we have all three of the leaders of that caucus that I am so proud to be a member of. Madam Speaker, my daughter is a childcare worker. She works in a childcare center, and I am so proud of her and just the effort and the creativity and just the energy that she puts into this very low-paid job. If it weren't for someone else earning money in the household, she could not really afford to live on that pay. I quote from a scholar who said, ``most developed countries in this world have some kind of a robust social safety net. The United States has women.'' And when it comes to taking care of those in need, either as workers or as family members, it is mostly women. I want to tell you that in the eighties, I was director--and proudly so--of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens. And as part of that, I was a cochair of the Long-Term Care Coalition that we had in Illinois. At that time, there was no long-term healthcare policy in the United States of America. And guess what? There is no long-term care policy in the United States of America right now. Families are left to figure it out. What are we going to do? I am getting older. I don't have family. What am I going to do to take care of myself? I am getting older and my family is the only one available to take care of me.…”