Expressing the sense of the Senate that it is the duty of the Federal Government to dramatically expand and strengthen the care economy.

acknowledging and addressing the legacies of exclusion and oppression faced by caregivers and care workers, particularly women of color and immigrants;

acknowledging and addressing the trauma of all those with unmet care needs, such as people of color, including Black, Brown, and Indigenous people and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, immigrant, LGBTQIA+, older, low-income, rural, and deindustrialized communities, people with disabilities, the unemployed, underemployed, unhoused, people who are incarcerated or who were formerly incarcerated, veterans, survivors of abuse, and children and young people coping with economic and climate disruption; and

approaching care policy as part of a broader agenda of dismantling systemic racism, sexism, economic inequality, and other forms of oppression, alongside efforts to achieve truth and reconciliation, reparations, decarceration, restorative justice, Indigenous sovereignty, a fair and humane immigration system, demilitarization, a Federal jobs guarantee, and economic, environmental, and climate justice for all;

care jobs are family sustaining, paying substantially more than $15 an hour and offering generous benefits;

all care workers have—

all care workers who wish to form worker-owned cooperatives have access to resources and technical support with which to do so;

all care workers have access to ample training opportunities, apprenticeships, and career ladders leading to higher compensation, along with other resources and support, including funding to facilitate those opportunities;

all care workers have the mandated employer protections they need to conduct their work safely in general, and in the event of a pandemic, infectious disease outbreak, or other disaster, including having optimal personal protective equipment, optimal isolation protocols, testing and contact tracing, and paid days off due to exposure or illness;

all care workers are safe from workplace violence, harassment, and threats to health; and

all undocumented workers have pathways to citizenship and full and equal access to all public benefits, including health, nutrition, and income support;

high-quality health care, including comprehensive and noncoercive mental health care coverage, substance use treatment, and reproductive care, free at the point of service;

free, high-quality home and community-based services, without income or asset tests and without waiting lists, which would fix the institutional bias of the current system, and allow people with disabilities and older adults to receive needed support and live self-directed lives;

free, high-quality childcare and early childhood education with a focus on the first 1,000 days of life, and robust, culturally responsive, and diverse care settings to achieve healthy child development;

paid family and medical leave of at least 6 months, with full wage replacement; and

additional support for unpaid caregivers, people with disabilities, older adults, and children, with the goal of eradicating child poverty; and

clean air and water;

public, permanently affordable, and dignified housing and transit systems, integrated with adequate social services to support residents of all ages and abilities;

safe, accessible infrastructure, including public accommodations, schools, workplaces, housing, transit, and streets allowing for full mobility for all people;

public education, with a focus on social and emotional learning, unleashing creativity in the arts and sciences, and educating and nurturing the whole child, and including fully funded programs for high-need students;

healthy, nourishing, and sustainable food systems that provide affordable, accessible, and culturally appropriate foods;

comprehensive public health and emergency preparedness infrastructure, including equitable, democratic response and recovery efforts during and after climate disasters;

clear opportunities for, and the removal of barriers to, unionization and collective action in all economic sectors, including the service, technology, and gig work sectors;

a Federal minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, indexed to the cost of living, and the elimination of subminimum wages for people with disabilities, tipped workers, and all other workers;

expanded leisure time, with no loss in pay or benefits;

generous, paid sick days and vacation time;

support for worker ownership, worker-owned cooperatives, and safety and democracy in the workplace, so that workers have meaningful influence over their conditions of work and the decisions that affect their lives;

adequate public services and programs to support all people in navigating economic and social challenges, including navigating life on a rapidly warming planet, and to help all people unleash their full potential as human beings;

public libraries, community centers, and other spaces that foster creativity, connection, mental health, and human development;

support for practicing and aspiring artists, as well as institutions, venues, and platforms that empower and fairly compensate artists, bringing their work to wider audiences, and integrating the arts into community mental health, education, and resilience efforts;

access to nature, public space, diverse forms of public recreation, and technology, including public broadband internet; and

mechanisms for democratic oversight of data, algorithmic, and technological systems, along with worker and community participation in the development and application of those systems, in service of expanding and improving care and social infrastructures;