House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined a class of preschoolers at Worcester's Rainbow Child Development Center Thursday as they sang, "the more we get together, the happier we'll be!"
Pelosi was there to highlight, in part, that these kids can gather because of help from federal CARES Act funding. And she argued other federal investments, such as monthly child tax credit payments, shouldn't just be temporary.
"We now have a magnificent opportunity with President Biden because he wants these things not to just be about COVID but to be about the future as well," Pelosi told several parents who met with her at the center. "So that's why we're fighting to extend some of these COVID benefits into the future."
Speaking to reporters at the center, Pelosi framed the issue as primarily impacting the lives of women and their ability to work and care for families.
"4.2 million women lost their jobs, couldn't go to work because their children were in school, they couldn't afford the child care," Pelosi said.
The $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that's currently being crafted, she added, will include benefits to address those priorities.
"It has child care, [the] child tax credit that we're here to talk about today, it has universal pre-K, it has paid family and medical leave, it has home health care," she said.
"Many developed countries have all of these things, and we don't," she added. "And why not?"
Jessica Richards was one of a few parents who spoke with Pelosi after the House Speaker visited a classroom. Richards is also a staff member at the center. She thanked Pelosi for her support of the child tax credit payments.
"My fiancee had lost his job," she said, tearing up. "So this money to pay our bills, it has helped us to buy groceries and things like we have needed to provide for us."
Richards said federal support also helped the center buy supplies to provide a location for remote schooling for children whose parents needed to be at work.
A handful of protesters outside the venue held signs and yelled at the House Speaker as she left.
"It's got to stop," said Jon Adams of Millbury. "The inflation is through the roof and taxes are going to increase through these new benefits they're putting out there. They need to start creating jobs and stop creating handouts."
"How many more trillions are you going to spend before this nation can't take it?" protester Robert Wilcox of Worcester asked, holding a sign directing the House speaker to go back to California. Wilcox pointed out that the U.S. has reached the federal debt ceiling. "What do you do then?" he asked. "That means we're a third-world nation."
Pelosi was joined by Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, who said he plans to bring a budget reconciliation bill that includes those benefits to the floor as soon as possible.
"I'm really excited about this," McGovern said. "I mean, I've been in Congress now for a while, but I have never been part of an effort that will be so transformational in terms of improving the lives of people in our country at every level."
