‘We Demand More Coalition’ Celebrates Biden’s First 100 Days, Calls for Women to be Focus of American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan 

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  President Biden just delivered his first address to the joint session of Congress on the eve of his 100 days in office.  The We Demand More Coalition, a group of organizations fighting for women workers and caretakers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, released the following statement:

“The We Demand More Coalition celebrates President Biden’s historic achievements in his  first 100 days in office and acknowledges the potential of the American Families Plan and American Jobs Plan’s policy agenda to dramatically reshape our country for women and families.

“The We Demand More Coalition is proud to have led the call to prioritize the needs of women, especially Black, Indigenous and other women of color, and their families in COVID-19 relief legislation. We applaud the $425 billion investment in child care, including early learning and pre-kindergarten programs, a national comprehensive family and medical paid leave program, the extension of tax credits for families, introducing a $15 minimum wage for child care workers, investments in affordable health care coverage, and the recent executive action raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors.

“But we need even bolder action to truly address the needs of women and families. The Biden administration must center the needs of women, especially women of color, in the American Families Plan and the American Jobs plan in all aspects. COVID-19 raged across the United States for more than a year and exposed long-standing historic inequities. We need transformative investments in present and future generations of women, whose labor holds our families and nation together. Families, in whatever shape or form they take, are the foundation of our nation and the deeply personal decision on how to build our families must be protected in our health care investments and infrastructure. To that end, we must ensure that  President Biden and Congress increase the investment in child care and early learning programs to $700 billion, protect and expand access to quality and affordable reproductive health care including abortion care, and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour for all workers.

“Women are the living infrastructure of this country. They are the caregivers, essential workers, care workers, activists and voters that form the backbone of the United States, and we are long-overdue for policy that centers the needs of women and women of color. We cannot build back better without transformative economic and social change for all women.” said Angela Cobián, Director of the We Demand More coalition.

Since March 2020, the We Demand More Coalition has called on Congress and the White House for direct COVID-19 relief for women, children, and families. We Demand More Coalition launched a $300,000 digital ad campaign across 19 news sites, condemning Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senate Majority for continually failing to provide women and frontline families with critical COVID-19 relief support. We Demand More played a critical role in the passing of the American Rescue Plan Act by driving thousands of supporter calls to members of Congress. Following the recent passage of the ARPA, the coalition sent a letter to the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional leadership calling for the next COVID-19 recovery package to prioritize support for women and women of color, including an equitable national vaccination program, continued support for the child care industry, national paid family and medical leave, increased abortion access, and a national $15 minimum wage.

About We Demand More

Formed in 2020, We Demand More is a coalition of organizations using our collective power to fight for the courageous women workers and caretakers, especially women of color, who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis and who are particularly impacted. Their lives, livelihoods, and families depend on lawmakers and business leaders doing more — and we need everyone to demand more. We’ve formed the We Demand More coalition to fight for five demands from Congress and corporate leaders:

1. Prioritize our health and safety ahead of corporations.

2. Get life-sustaining relief to us NOW.

3. Make state governments strong; they are our lifeline.

4. Stop the attacks on our reproductive health care, including abortion access.

More information on the We Demand More coalition can be found on its website at www.WeDemandMore.org and its letter to Congress can be found here. Below is a full list of the We Demand More coalition’s members:

Endorsement is an indication of solidarity within our movement and a recognition of the urgency of these policies. Endorsement does not necessarily mean that orgs have expertise in or are actively working towards each priority or policy listed.

Abortion Access Force
Advocates for Youth
All Women’s Progress
All* Above All Action Fund
African American Ministers In Action
American Association of University Women Action Fund
Birth In Color RVA
Black Women’s Roundtable
California National Organization for Women
Catholics for Choice
Center for American Progress Fund
Chicago Foundation for Women
Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Daily Kos
DemCast USA
End Rape on Campus
Equal Pay Today
Equal Rights Advocates
Feminist Majority
Feminist Women’s Health Center
Free Speech For People
Global Justice Center
The Greenlining Institute
Hollaback!
Hopewell Fund
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Mass NOW
Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable
MomsRising Together
NARAL Pro-Choice America
NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland
National Birth Equity Collaborative
National Black Justice Coalition
National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women – Connecticut chapter
National Women’s Health Network
National Women’s Law Center
New American Leaders Action Fund
New Century Trust
New Voices for Reproductive Justice
Paid Leave for All Action
PathWays PA
Period Equity
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Public Citizen
Resilience
ServeUSA
Sisters Lead Sisters Vote
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
Supermajority
Ultraviolet
United State of Women
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
#VOTEPROCHOICE
Voto Latino
Women Employed
Women’s Fund of Rhode Island
Women’s March