Political Quotes

“I will continue with the brief discussion about home and community-based services. It is so critical, as I mentioned earlier, to have these services available for seniors and for people with disabilities, and it is also relevant in the life of a child. We know--and as the Presiding Officer knows well in her efforts to provide these services to those in the disability community and among seniors--that it is important to children as well. Medicaid home and community-based services provide over $4 billion right now in support so that children can receive therapy and other necessary services to participate in school, and as I mentioned earlier, we know the impact upon seniors and people with disabilities. So that is the reason we are emphasizing, among many reasons, the investment in this bill for home and community-based services in the context of the pandemic and the devastation of the virus and more broadly. The second issue I will raise--I know we are short on time--is an issue that I mentioned earlier. In addition to home and community-based services, this is an issue that relates to the family's ability to pay for childcare. So it affects the parents as well as the children. It is the child and dependent care tax credit. Obviously, it is an existing tax credit, a credit that parents have been able to rely on, but it is nowhere near robust enough to make it possible for more parents to afford childcare.…”