10.25.21

Durbin: President Biden's Build Back Better Agenda Will Help Working Mothers Succeed

WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke in support of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.  During his speech, Durbin shared what the expanded Child Tax Credit has meant to Illinoisans.

“A lady named Lydia in my home state of Illinois described what this means to her. She wrote to my office and she said, ‘With the Child Tax Credit, I'll be able to buy my kids their school supplies, clothes, things they need to go back to school,’ and she added, ‘be able to buy some groceries.’ Think about the last time that any Senator stopped and thought, I wonder if I'll have enough money to buy groceries this week? Here is a mom in Illinois with kids who says that our tax policy, the one that was just criticized by the Senate Republican Leader, is helping her,” Durbin said. “Under President Biden's Build Back Better agenda, we want to extend the Child Tax Credit, give working families a little breathing room, and reduce child poverty in America. Now, if [Republicans] want to come up and criticize us for reducing child poverty in America, so be it. But, call it for what it is. We're putting our tax policy on the side of families with kids. For our Republicans who say families like Lydia's don't need any help, they do. She does and we cannot walk away from them.”

Durbin also slammed Republican fearmongering on inflation and called for bold investments in American families and workers to help move the country forward and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Everyone from single mothers to our nation's economists can tell you the best way to stabilize the American economy is by supporting working families. In fact, a report by Moody’s concluded that the Republican fearmongering about inflation – and we hear it every day on the floor – Moody’s called it, ‘overdone.’… But, the fear of inflation is one of the reasons Republicans give about not even wanting to talk about changing tax policy in America. This pandemic has shown us cracks in our economy. This Build Back Better [agenda] will get us to the point where we can start to rebuild it in the right way. Give families financial relief, invest in our nation's economic potential,” Durbin said.

Video of Durbin’s floor speech is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s floor speech is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s floor speech is available here for TV Stations.

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