SENATOR BIAGGI AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER NIOU INTRODUCE MARSHALL PLAN FOR MOMS

ALBANY, NY – This week, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou introduced bill S5488 (Assembly number forthcoming) to create a task force to determine how best to support mothers and caregivers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. This task force will study how to provide direct payments to mothers and other caregivers, return women to the workforce, and address the intersecting policy areas that disproportionately impact women, including childcare, paid family leave, and family supportive policies in workplaces.

Historically, women have faced a disproportionate responsibility of caregiving. The increased demands of child care, work, and remote learning during the pandemic have had unprecedented strain on the mental and emotional health of mothers, and have led to many women leaving the workforce. These stressors are compounded with financial instability, racial injustice, and many other factors. Our state’s recovery from COVID-19 must prioritize the needs of women –– especially women of color and low income women who have borne the brunt of this pandemic. 

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, women account for 55% of overall net job loss, with Black and Latina women suffering job loss at a 60% higher rate than white women. This is a devastating reality. Even prior to the pandemic, mothers and caregivers have been an invisible workforce left financially unsupported despite being the key to families’ economic security and survival. COVID-19 has only exacerbated these struggles. I’m proud to introduce the Marshall Plan for Moms in New York to develop bold solutions to prioritize women and caregivers in the COVID-19 recovery,” said New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi.  

"We ask mothers and caregivers to maintain an exceptional standard of care without providing them the support they need. This pandemic offers countless examples of caregivers and households pushed to their physical, emotional, and financial limits to provide nurturing and safe environments for children, often while juggling second or even third jobs. It's time we recognize their extraordinary efforts by ensuring our economic recovery uplifts and empowers women who too often find themselves left behind once our moment of crisis has passed," said Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou. 

“Moms everywhere are facing the mental, emotional, and physical strain from the unprecedented and compounded challenges of the public health, economic, and caregiving crises. Working moms are being forced out of the workforce in droves. Today, there are over 2 million fewer women – and 1 million fewer moms – in the labor force than there were before the pandemic. It is time for transformational structural change. That is why I introduced the Marshall Plan for Moms (H.Res. 121) in Congress – to serve as a blueprint to help get moms back to the workforce. I applaud Senator Biaggi and Assembly Member Niou for introducing the Marshall Plan for Moms in New York, and look forward to working with them to ensure the needs of working mothers and women are addressed at all levels of government as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic,” said Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-06).

"Women are getting crushed in this pandemic, and the economic data shows us that. All the jobs lost in December were from women, and the latest jobs report shows us that it is Latina and Black women who have been hit the hardest. This is a national crisis that requires a bold response. This is why we need a Marshall Plan for Moms. I'm grateful for leaders like Senator Alessandra Biaggi who introduced a plan to get mothers the relief they need, and it is my hope that this bill becomes a model for other state leaders looking to put moms at the center of their economic recovery. I encourage our elected leaders in New York to join Senator Biaggi and Assembly Member Niou and pass this legislation immediately, said Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code.

“Moms and other caregivers have been the backbone of our economy without recognition or support for far too long. The pandemic has simultaneously increased the weight of this responsibility and made it more visible. It’s time to center women – and disproportionately women of color – in our economic recovery and a Marshall Plan for moms is a good start,” said Melissa Boteach, Vice President, Income Security & Child Care, National Women’s Law Center.

“Devising the Marshall Plan is the work in progress needed to close the gaps for single mothers who are the bedrock of our families and single handedly growing our communities. I hope this allows other states to take notice," said Dawn Rowe, Girl Vow.

The task force will be composed of the Commissioners of Labor and Social Services, the Chairperson of the Worker’s Compensation Board of the State of New York, or the designee of those Commissioners. Additional members will be appointed by the temporary president of the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the Assembly. The task force will hold five public hearings around the state and conclude with a report of its findings and recommendations to the legislature within one year. 

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