Speaking from a Massachusetts pre-K and kindergarten facility shuttered by the coronavirus, Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday night made the case that Joe Biden has the right kind of “plans” to rebuild the American economy.
Warren focused her remarks on child care, an issue that has grown in prominence as more parents than ever before – with schools and day cares closed – struggle to juggle work and caring for their children.
“We build infrastructure like roads and bridges and communication systems so people can work. That infrastructure helps us all because it keeps our economy going,” Warren said. “It is time to recognize that child care is part of the basic infrastructure of this nation. Its infrastructure for families.”
Warren used a moment from her own life’s story, one familiar to those who followed her campaign, to drive home the point.
“As a little girl growing up in Oklahoma, what I wanted most in the world was to be a teacher. I loved teaching. And when I had babies and was juggling my first big teaching job in Texas it was hard, but I could do hard,” Warren said. “The thing that almost sank me? Child care.”
The future Massachusetts senator then called her aunt, who dropped everything to join her, helping Warren for 16 years. But that, Warren noted, was her own good luck – and not the fate of so many other working parents.
“Because of my Aunt Bea, I learned a fundamental truth: Nobody makes it on their own,” Warren said. “And yet, here we are, two generations of working parents later, and if you have a baby and don't have a Aunt Bea, you are on your own.”
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