Monday (Apr. 22) VP Kamala Harris was in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where she participated in a roundtable discussion with nursing home care workers for a conversation about their dedicated service and the Biden-Harris administration’s advancements in long-term care to support the care economy. Chiquita Brooks-LaSure (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator), who is responsible for coordinating this work, participated in the discussion. Other members of the panel were April Verrett ( Secretary-Treasurer of the SEIU), Lisa Briggs (Union Steward and CNA), Ari Anoni (CNA), Lisa Gordon (CNA and vice president of SEI Wisconsin). From the conversation, it is clear that the new initiatives are due to a dialogue between the Biden-Harris administration and the interested parties (clinicians, care workers, advocates and people who receive nursing home care in nursing homes or in their homes).
Excerpts from the White House Fact Sheet:
The Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Rule will require all nursing homes that receive funding from Medicare and Medicaid to have 3.48 hours per resident per day of total staffing, including a defined number from both registered nurses (0.55 hours per resident per day) and nurse aides (2.45 per resident per day). It will also require facilities to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services Rule will require that at least 80 percent of Medicaid payments for home care services go to workers’ wages.
From VP Kamala Harris’ opening remarks:
It’s good to see everyone here. And I’m really looking forward to this conversation, mostly because of the announcements we are making today, which, I will say to the head of SEIU and all of the SEIU leaders and the workers who are here, we all know the — what we are announcing here today is long overdue and we still have more work to do.
So, today’s conversation really is about the safety, the dignity, the guarantee of self-determination that comes with the work that home healthcare workers and care workers do.
Today is about recognizing the gift that home healthcare workers and care workers give to us as a society.
And, again, I’ll close by saying this. This is about dignity. And it’s about the dignity that we as a society owe to those who give to the least of these.
From the end of the conversation:
April Verrett — I also think that it’s just important to note, if I may, that most of the people that do work in the care infrastructure, it’s women of color, it is immigrant women. So, when we center the work in these communities, when we center women’s work, we are changing the lives for their families. You know, the rule around pay is huge; we have an opportunity to transform work that used to be done by enslaved women to family sustaining work. And, that will have deep ramifications for our society that will go beyond our wildest imagining. So, I just needed to lift that point up because we are undoing some things that have been needed to be undone for generations. So, thank you.
VP Kamala Harris: Amen! And, if you don’t mind, I’ll put a fine point on that. You know, there are people in our country right now that are suggesting that to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, is a bad thing, because they may not want conversations like this to occur which include the issue of pay equity based on gender, whether it be in the WNBA or recognizing that the traditional work of work of women nurses or teachers, remains underpaid, especially when you measure the value of the work.
After the roundtable discussion, VP Harris participated in an Organizing Event for Reproductive Freedoms.
VP Harris’ remarks start at 8:20 minutes.
Thursday (Apr.25) VP Kamala Harris hosted a Roundtable Discussion on Second Chance Month (more about Second Chance Month. Participating in the discussion were four people who received clemency from President Biden on April 24.
So, I’m a big believer in the power of redemption. It’s an age-old concept that transcends religions but is fundamentally about an understanding that everybody makes mistakes. And for some, that might rise to the level of being a crime. But is it not the sign of a civil society that we allow people a way to earn their way back and give them the support and the resources they need to do that?
And so, that’s why we have convened today to talk about the power of individuals, when supported by a community, by society — the power that they have to do extraordinary things that benefit all kinds of people in terms of where they live and the people they meet, their family members, and others.
So, again, I welcome the four of you for being here. And — and I’ll tell you, I have worked on this issue my entire career , and I know it works. I know that it works to give people second chances.
And I will say this. Many Americans who have served their sentence still face obstacles to their success. And one way to remove some of those other obstacles is by issuing pardons and commutations. And so, that is the subject of our conversation today.
(See the comments section for more stories from Vice President Kamala Harris’ Tweets.)
Thursday afternoon, VP Harris delivered remarks at the White House Take Your Child to Work Day Event:
Oh, and for any VP Kamala Harris critics, who want to squelch her joy and ours:
Reminder: VP Kamala Harris Roundup is a weekly series, published on Tuesdays at 8 AM ET. Please share widely. For daily updates, see my MVP Kamala Harris comments in the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup.
Vote and GOTV! “When we fight, we win!” — VP Kamala Harris