Moms, parents, caregivers, care workers, and leaders are turning the tables on Congress this weekend by filibustering them with the message that America’s families need a care infrastructure to succeed.
Washington, D.C. — MomsRising, the #CareCantWait Coalition, and 100+ allied organizations are holding the first-ever MOMibuster today, turning the tables on Congress by filibustering them to send the message that, in order to succeed, families need a care infrastructure, including: affordable child care, free pre-K, paid family and medical leave, quality maternal health care for everyone, home- and community-based services, affordable prescription drugs, and monthly Child Tax Credit checks that are fully refundable. Part Mother’s Day celebration, part plea for help, and part call to action, the MOMibuster features hundreds of moms from across the country sharing their stories and discussing the policies they need. More than 40 members of Congress also contributed videos.
“Moms need much more than chocolate and flowers for Mother’s Day this year,” said MomsRising Executive Director and CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “Two years into a pandemic that has forced women out of the workforce, disproportionately harmed moms of color, caused child care programs to close, and made life immeasurably harder for moms and families, we need real policy solutions – and we need them now. That’s what our MOMibuster is all about, giving voice to the issues moms and parents face and the solutions we all need. And this isn’t a one-weekend event, we’re also making calls to Congress, organizing in our communities, and much more.”
The MOMibuster is airing from noon ET to 8 pm ET/9 am PT to 5pm PT Saturday here and on the social media channels of dozens of partners. Because the response from moms was overwhelming, a longer version will also be posted on MomsRising’s YouTube channel after the event. The online event includes moms talking about how they were pushed out of the workforce during the pandemic because they couldn’t find affordable child care, parents discussing missing time with their babies because they are without paid family and medical leave, caregivers struggling to make ends meet despite impossibly low wages, families facing food and housing insecurity since the monthly Child Tax Credit payments ended, and more. They include:
MomsRising and the #CareCantWait coalition also placed a full-page ad in the DC edition of the New York Times Friday that carries the headline: Forget Chocolate, The Gift We Want Is Progress!
In addition, the MOMibuster video will be projected on LED trucks in front of the U.S. Capitol today through Tuesday.
And MomsRising is also delivering moms’ stories and paper flower bouquets to each member of Congress next Tuesday.
For details and to be connected to MOMibuster participants, contact magen@momsrising.org or lisa@momsrising.org.
MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.