III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 87 

Recognizing that the United States needs a Marshall Plan for Moms in 

order to revitalize and restore mothers in the workforce. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2021 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. SMITH, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. 

WYDEN, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. DURBIN) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing that the United States needs a Marshall Plan 

for Moms in order to revitalize and restore mothers 

in the workforce. 

Whereas any relief and long-term recovery from the economic 

fallout of the COVID–19 pandemic must recognize, rebuild, and return mothers to the workforce; 

Whereas women, and especially working mothers, are bearing 

the brunt of the economic fallout from the COVID–19 

pandemic as a result of existing social barriers and policy 

failures such as— 

(1) the lack of a care infrastructure, including child 

care deserts and lack of care infrastructure caused by 

high child care costs; 


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(2) the lack of family-supportive workplaces; 

(3) the lack of a national paid leave policy; and 

(4) gender and racial pay inequity; 

Whereas, at the beginning of 2020, women made up the majority of the workforce for the first time in almost a decade, even as women continued to face unjust gender and 

racial wage gaps; 

Whereas 2,300,000 women have left the labor force since the 

beginning of the COVID–19 pandemic, including 275,000 

who exited in January 2021; 

Whereas participation by women in the labor force was less 

than 55 percent in April 2020 for the first time since 

1986, in part because of the child care crisis caused by 

the COVID–19 pandemic; 

Whereas participation by women age 20 and older in the 

labor force fell to a 33-year low in January 2021, hitting 

57 percent; 

Whereas women— 

(1) have suffered the majority of pandemic-related 

job losses; and 

(2) have lost over 5,400,000 net jobs since February 

2020, and account for 55 percent of overall net job loss 

since the start of the COVID–19 pandemic; 

Whereas 86 percent of net jobs lost in December 2020 were 

jobs held by women, with women losing 196,000 jobs 

during that month; 

Whereas mothers in the prime of their working lives have 

paid an especially high price, with mothers ages 25 to 54 

experiencing a 5.7-percentage point decline in employment since the COVID–19 pandemic began, compared to 


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a 3.1 percentage-point decline for fathers in the same age 

group; 

Whereas women are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and 

underrepresented in high-wage jobs; 

Whereas employment in the bottom quartile of the wage distribution has declined by 17 percent since February 

2020, far exceeding the overall employment decline of 6.5 

percent; 

Whereas wages for women are key to the economic security 

of the families of such women; 

Whereas women of color play a particularly vital role in the 

financial stability of their families, and any disruption to 

their earnings can be detrimental to the welfare of their 

families; 

Whereas the absence of affordable child care exacerbates inequality by severely inhibiting low-income parents from 

attaining promotions and higher salaries; 

Whereas child nutrition is strongly linked to the employment 

status of mothers, such that almost 1 in 4 children experienced food insecurity in 2020 at the same time that 

mothers experienced work disruptions or unemployment 

that led to income loss; 

Whereas work interruptions caused by school closures and 

child care closures have disproportionately impacted 

women, forcing women to reduce work hours, take a leave 

of absence, or permanently leave the workforce; 

Whereas, without reliable and affordable child care, mothers 

who have left the workforce will not be able to return to 

work, since such mothers often cannot pay for child care 

without the income made from going back to work; 


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Whereas essential workers who are single parents face additional challenges and greater financial burden due to 

needing affordable child care; 

Whereas the COVID–19 pandemic has exacerbated existing 

stigmas against working mothers that falsely assume that 

their role as caregivers will negatively impact their work 

performance; 

Whereas mothers forced to permanently leave the workforce 

or reduce work hours because of the COVID–19 pandemic are experiencing career trajectory disruptions that 

lower their lifetime earnings potential and endanger their 

future Social Security earnings and other potential retirement income; 

Whereas child care is a lifeline for working mothers, and over 

75 percent of mothers with children younger than age 10 

say child care is one of their top 3 challenges during the 

COVID–19 pandemic; 

Whereas, in 2019, before the COVID–19 pandemic hit the 

United States, there were roughly 9,700,000 working 

mothers with a child younger than age 6; 

Whereas 95 percent of the child care workforce is composed 

of women, and yet nearly 2⁄3 of child care workers with 

children report problems with accessing public support 

programs and often struggle to afford high-quality child 

care for their own families; 

Whereas 60 percent of businesses in the child care industry 

are minority owned; 

Whereas a significant investment in child care would be simultaneously job creating and job enabling, creating care 

jobs and supporting parental employment, both of which 

would benefit women; 


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Whereas women of color are disproportionately represented in 

many frontline industries that also lack critical benefits 

such as paid sick leave and flexibility to telework, including food services, hospitality, retail, and social assistance; 

Whereas the unprecedented burdens of child care, work, and 

remote learning have strained the mental and emotional 

health of mothers; and 

Whereas access to paid leave during the COVID–19 pandemic has been linked to a reduction in the spread of 

COVID–19 by as many as 15,000 new cases per day 

where people were able to use the leave, such that paid 

leave has prevented the compounded stressors of countless evictions, hospitalizations, and hungry children: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) mothers, especially mothers of color, have 

3 been pushed to the brink of economic, social, and 

4 emotional collapse during the COVID–19 pandemic 

5 because of the existing economic and social inequal6 ities that women have long faced; 

7 (2) any relief and long-term recovery package 

8 to address the COVID–19 crisis should recognize 

9 and rebuild moms in the workforce, in order to se10 cure meaningful and sustainable economic recovery, 

11 by including, at a minimum— 

12 (A) a robust paid leave plan, which is es13 sential to securing the physical health and fi14 nancial health of families, including emergency 


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1 paid leave policies that would create a path to2 ward permanent paid leave solutions; 

3 (B) the means to rebuild and stabilize the 

4 child care industry, which is essential to eco5 nomic recovery and bolstering women in the 

6 labor force; 

7 (C) major investments in our education 

8 systems, which must be made in order to safely 

9 reopen schools and campuses, providing funding 

10 to support and protect the safety and health of 

11 educators, support staff, students, and families; 

12 (D) recurring child benefits, and expanded 

13 and improved child tax credit and earned in14 come tax credit to help reduce child poverty and 

15 provide economic security for families; 

16 (E) an expanded unemployment insurance 

17 program that benefits struggling workers, in18 cluding those experiencing long-term unemploy19 ment; and 

20 (F) access to mental health support for 

21 mothers, which is essential to maintaining the 

22 health of the family; and 

23 (3) employers and policymakers in the United 

24 States must prioritize addressing the economic cliff 

25 facing mothers, and make permanent the aforemenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:09 Mar 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR87.IS SR87

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1 tioned policies so that mothers are protected against 

2 any future economic calamities. 

Æ 


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