Washington, DC…Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Golden State Opportunity, parents and advocates for a virtual press event as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Child Tax Credit Awareness Day to ensure parents know about the American Rescue Plan’s historic expansion of the Child Tax Credit and how it will benefit their families. Below are the Speaker’s remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you very much, Amy Everitt, President of Golden State Opportunity. Thank you for your long-standing leadership on behalf of California’s women and children, helping them navigate the policies of Washington, of Sacramento, of wherever. That mission is why Democrats today – and the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats across the country – have a drumbeat across the country, holding a nationwide Child Tax Credit Awareness Day of Action.

Again, I salute Lily Marquez, Saira Soto and Kevin Zwick for being with us. Kevin was just with us on another such event where we were trying to make sure that everyone knew about the benefits so that they could take advantage of the benefits.

The Democrats’ American Rescue Plan included an historic expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which will benefit so many – 27 million families, 27 million families – and cut child poverty in half. But we need it to be more than that. In the bill, it will make a difference for families, particularly communities of color, helping children in need, putting parents back to work and empowering our economy. Lily knows that – we are always at events talking about ‘children learning, parents earning.’ The Parent Voices-San Francisco has been a leader in all of that, and I’m sure we’ll hear from her about that.

In California, nearly 90 percent of children will benefit from this credit, with over half a million children in our own state lifted out of poverty. In San Francisco, nearly 60,000 kids will benefit, with an average of $2,400 per family – well over $3,000 for families experiencing poverty. In California, and across the nation, working families will feel the immediate impact of the Tax Credit – because it puts money directly into parents’ pockets. We’re very excited about that.

If you filed your taxes – well, we’ll answer questions about how you file your taxes and the rest as we go to the Q&A. But what’s exciting about this is, we’ve gotten them all to agree that families will receive an automatic monthly payment starting July 15th, deposited directly into your bank account or sent as a paper check to your mailbox. Expanding the Child Tax Credit calls – for which I have fought for decades, we’ve been fighting this fight under the leadership of Rosa DeLauro. It is a major triumph for families and children. And it’s an important step in our Build Back Better. So, it’s what we did in the Rescue Package, but now we want to make it longer and more certain for families. As I said earlier, we want to do more.

That is why Democrats are fighting to make the Child Tax Credit expansion permanent with our American Families Plan. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that. It costs a lot of money, but it’s well worth the price and the value that we receive for our children. Securing the expansion for generations to come is not just a priority; it is a value. And this Plan will also expand access – in addition to this – expand access to child care, early childhood education, family and medical leave, the list goes on. As I said earlier, ‘children learning, parents earning.’

It’s essential that we enact the President’s transformative Jobs Plan, which will create millions of good-paying jobs for working parents and rebuild our economy in a new way as we go forward.

As I always say, the three most important issues facing our Congress are our children, our children, our children – their health, their education, the economic security of their families, a safe environment in which they can succeed and a world at peace in which they can reach their fulfillment. These vital initiatives will help transform our economy by putting families first.

Now, it is my honor to introduce and yield the floor to Lily Marquez, a tireless community leader with Parent Voices-San Francisco. As I say, I’ve been a fan of theirs for a long time. She’ll tell – she’ll bring a moving story about how the Child – expanded Child Tax Credit helped her and her family.

Thank you so much, Lily.

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Well, again, I want to thank Lily and Saira and Kevin and you, Amy, for not only being here today, but for your care for our children, for your concern for the policy that affects them in that case. Kevin gave us some good guidance. Just go to the portal and clear up any doubts that you may have about any of this. It’s easier than anything, mostly that we’ve ever called upon people to do because we have a path that they’re on.

Again, though, tell a friend. I know that Lily does in working with Parent Voices. Tell friends so that they take advantage of it. This makes a big difference in children’s lives. And we want it to be there for them without any question.

So, thank you, Amy, for the work that Golden State Opportunity does, has done, is doing. Kevin, United Way has really served us in such a fantastic way through all of this. We’ve been on other Zooms, making sure people can take advantage of other opportunities that the Rescue package put forth. And Saira, the Children’s Defense Fund has been just exactly that in defense of our children. Thank you.

But nothing more eloquent than to hear Lily’s story about her children, because hopefully others can identify with the challenges she faced and the opportunity that is there for Jeremiah and Mia and Isabella. And thank you, Amy, again. Thank you all.

And let’s thank President Biden. I mean, he has just decided to go down this path in a very strong way. And again, it’s, shall we say, not everybody on Capitol Hill goes along with it. But every single Democrat voted for it. So, I’m very proud of that.

Thank you.