Many situations people find themselves. The recession has laid bare the economic struggles of millions of American Families with almost no warning to the shutdown that claimed tens of millions of jobs and American Workers and families felt the ground fall from under them. The. The country was on the verge and so many have lost their livelihoods and exhausted their financial reserves. They are facing financial catastrophe. That growth hasnt been broadly shared starting in 2009 with 128 months of growth so many neighbors are facing financial catastrophe they do not fal falr r. E irreversible financial disaster. As businesses gradually reopen, many workers are coping with drastically reduced hours and lower paychecks that will not cover their bills. Even people fortunate enough to be returning to work will likely be struggling for some time to come the Child Tax Credit and earned income tax credit and it also supports workers with a more generous employer retention tax credit to maintain payroll and additional credits many are out of work through no fault of their own and they need help with the basics like rental assistance and food. This is no time to abandon. They deserve and should be able to expect support during this outraordinary disaster. Before i recognize the Ranking Members for his statement, i want to mention another piece of legislation that would provide a vital tax relief for a subset of americans with disabilities who are living in the United States. We have legislation hr 2086 with Access Technology affordability that would help blind employees and job seekers to get the equipment they need to gain and maintain employment during the pandemic. Working from home has made exponentially more difficult when your ability to work is so reliant on Expensive Technology that many do not have readily accessible outside of their workplace. I urge m my colleagues to look t this legislation and work with me and mr. Kelly to advance it and i ask unanimous consent that this statement by hand be entered into the record. Hearing no objection, so will be the order. With that i wont recognize the Ranking Member smith from nebraska for the purpose of an opening statement. Thank you mr. Chairman for holding todays hearing. A partial shutdown of the economy and the congressional response to it goes unprecedented. Before this pandemic shocked the nation 3. 5 and the highest wage gain seen by the burner is because of the demand was so high. This downturn is unlike any other. To socially distance and protect themselves, their families, their friendslv and neighbors. The future progression of the disease is how successful programs ultimately will be in keeping the economy to handle in the long run. Th definitely wants to keep the doors open and to be able to continue serving the communities in the way they were earlier this year. For this reason the primary focus must be on ensuring the future legislation is focused on reopening the economy and incentivizing. We are readyrk to work with with you as well and to contribute. To restore the confidence to create a through the end of 2020 reconfiguring workspaces the act provided aid and a Popular Program was nothing short of successful these past few months but for help may be needed and we need additional ideas to help businesses maintain liquidity duringmp these trying times. Thatthat is why we should make america more competitive by increasing [inaudible] the need to make it Even Stronger now is to work with these individuals and improve the ability of the states to assist to help people stay in the workplace. These were bipartisan ideas two years ago and they continue to support them now. We must work on a bipartisan statement necessary to resume so they can continue working and have access to Economic Opportunities available. Thank you and i yield back. Without objection all members Opening Statements will be made a part of the record. Thank you to the distinguished witnesses for taking the time to appear before us today to discuss these important issues. I will introduce the witnesses before we get started here. First senior counsel for the National Womens law center where she works on issues affecting lowco and moderate wih a speciall emphasis on federal and statee tax policy. The coexecutive director of the Georgetown Center on poverty and inequality he leaves work to develop and advance ideas for reducing domestic poverty and inequality with particular attention to gender and racial inequality. She leads the federal policy work for the program directed at improving economic wellbeing for the Healthcare Systems integration to address the social risk factors among patientsn and families locally and nationally. The next witness im going to ask our colleagues to introduce her. Is you may have it on mute. Weve give her a little time and then i will introduce the blast with this. Ill is a resident fellow at the Enterprise Institute where he studied federal tax policy before joining aei, he was the chief economist and Vice President of Economic Analysis at the Tax Foundation where he led the Macro Economic team. Thank you mr. Chairman. It is my honor to introduce can you hear me . Vice president of Economic Analysis where he learned the team and rode on various tax policy topics including the Corporate Taxation, carbon tax reform and now i will yield to introduce the final witness. Can you hear me mr. Chairman . Wese can hear you, yes. Now we dont. The sorry about that. Thank you mr. Chairman. Its my honor to introduce the bilingual Early Childhood educator and proud member where she emphasized womens voices. Im sorry. Can you hear me now. It must be my connection. We can hear you. I am trying. I am here but im not sure about my connection. You are going in and out. Why dont we recognize your constituents. We can hear you now. Go ahead. Let me just say ms. Rodrigues is the constituent and close friend as they Work Together and has nothing but glowing comments to make and is a bilingual preschool educator facingl Economic Hardships as a result of the recession. Shes lost her job. Her husband lost one of his two jobs and theyve been left with parttime work. She and her husband have two Young Children and i know that she wanted to make the introduction and sadly we are still rustling through the challenges of the technology of these platforms but we are going to be using. But now first let me say thank you to all the witnesses for taking your time to be here. Each of your statements will be made a purpose the record in its entirety. I would ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes or less. Please keep an eye on the clock. If you go over your time i will notify you with a tap of my virtual gavel. We will proceed with ms. Matsui. Chairman thompson, Ranking Members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. Im the director of income security senior counsel at the National Womens de law center. The crisis revealed disastrous consequences of longstanding inequities. Many Indigenous Women of color, women with low incomes struggled tstruggleto make ends meet evens the recession and lack the savings to cushion the economic downturn. Women predominate in many jobs such as healthier child care, social Service Workers many of which are poorly paid and present substantial wage gaps. Women are also underrepresented in sectors have suffered devastating job losses such as retail, restaurant and other service sectors. Health disparities and women with disabilities have been exacerbated and in short they experienced the greatest disadvantagesta before covid19 have been hit hardest. Against the backdrop it is critically important to prioritized and provide what they need to live, learn and work. Congress now hasas the opportuny to enact policies that will advance the Economic Security and mitigate the effects of the recession. While many tax provisions will leave out women of color and people with low income, those like the earned income tax credit and Child Tax Credit especially benefits women of color. These boost incomthese boost inp reduce the harsh economic effects of gender and racial inequity by narrowing the wage gaps, improving health, education and Employment Outcomes for families and reducing poverty. Moreover, improving the tax credit most importantly by making it refundable would help the families meet the high cost of child care. Those with direct payments are also critically important. They relieve the Financial Stress experienced by those that have lost jobs or wages. In addition, women in families with incomes and low levels of cash on hand tend to spend them quickly to buy groceries, pay bills. Expandeextended refundable tax s under the direct assistance with mitigate the recession. The act congress provide fact r the lifetime direct payment but more must be done. Some especially vulnerable individuals and families were left out of the Economic Impact payment including certain dependents in households that filed tax returns using an individual tax identification number. In addition, millions of eligibleon people who do not ordinarily file tax returns are likely to miss out on payments and people of color are disproportionately represented in the group. Moreover, while Economic Impact payment help those that receive the company families need more resources to pay bills as they come due. Importantly, the act was built to improve the Economic Impact payment wouldld include many defendants had families left out of the back and enact an additional payment. A in addition, it would enact improvements so those now claiming children are not safe to poverty and improvements to the tax credit worth millions into improvements include a refund ability to the tax credit that would ensure they can access this benefit. The tax cut has the potential to support an economy that works for all of us. Thank you for the opportunity to justify and i welcome any questions that you might have. Thank you very much. Now mr. Group you are recognized for five minutes. Im th the co executivewhene director of the Georgetown Center on poverty and im honored to come for the subcommittee to speak to the importance of leveraging the tax code to support working families during the recession. Ive worked on these policies for overr a decade before, durig and after the crisis. Policymakers must avoid the spending prematurely. Not long after the act of 2009 policymakers shifted to prosperity and we needed more time to close the jobs gap. In other words it took seven and a half years to create enough jobs to make up for those lost and to absorb new workers. We now face a farce for the recession the opportunity for the needless suffering the Congressional Budget Office have nearly 16 trilliondollar tax over the next decade and those experiencing record levels of job loss during pandemic amounted to 20 million that may be receiving or waiting to receive unemployment assistance. Workers of color have been especially hard hit. The early federal response including the first Coronavirus Response at provided an essential down payment but its simply not enough. They failed to match in duration and to at least 2021 additional measures that areas substantial but the worst economic condition some key federalen support programs to end in the coming weeks at a time when households and governments are cutting back the federal government alone can spend more to help us weather the crisis. Today its an investment for families, communities and businesses we must marshal a wide range of strategies to ensure that we build a stronger economy coming out of t the recession. We must, the strategies should be targeted and while these fixes to the tax code are ultimately necessary, theres a number of measures we can take right now to help mitigate the iisis including one, providing additional and more inclusive Economic Impacts regardless of immigration status, age or thinking status. To, the tax creditwo to mark aggressively with modest earnings and to reach workers without children of a larger credit and more households. Number three, increasing and providing the maximum including families withcl older children. For making the child and dependent tax credit for the high cost of care and five, establishing ave meaningful optn outside to help the ford health coverage. Any of these positionss. And moe are in the house passed act that has been waiting in the senate for weeks. Lets not forget that there is a virus threatening the lives of millions of americans beyond the 117,000 or more who already died of covid19. The Actions Congress takes or fails to take whether we have the financial ruin and hardships for the millions of workers and families, people have sacrificed their livelihoods and their lives. Most are at risk if they fail to provide ongoing support. People are already experiencing a preventable joblessness under these outcomes and supporting the Mental Health and wellbeing of tax policy is typical policy with stability to reach tens of millions the test system is vital. Together with others including expansions of Unemployment Benefits now is the time to push these as far as we can. You may please proceed. Ranking members of the committee and give her the opportunity to testify. Im the director of strategy at the Medical Center with pediatricians and Public Health researchers committed to advancing equity and improving the health of Young Childrenea d families fight in forming policies that we are also honored in the coalition for i will discuss based on research at the boston Medical Center families with children are already worried about paying and putting food on the table today and in the coming months. Families of color in immigrant families are disproportionately impacted by the current recession and based on previous recessions they will continue to struggle after the economy recovers. This will affect a generation of children and it will have Lifelong Health impacts. However this reality doesnt have to present the choices made herein congressil could change those. Families need urgent relief to weather the effects of the crisis. The work begins in pediatric studies where there are Young Children at hospitals in boston, baltimore, philadelphia, minneapolis and metal rock. When families are not able to afford food, rento and utilitie. During the Great Recession we show they were hit hard and experience high rates of hardship. The current recession the nation is facing is deeper and more devastating for many in this is playing out. Many struggled for the basic needs prior to covid19. We were alarmed that the increases in the hardships and in response weve taken extraordinary steps to distribute cleaning supplies and sscreate a Housing Assistance fund. Staff have worked tirelessly to ensure families are connected to all available state and federal resources including the effort led by the preparation site to ensure families are able to explain their Economic Impacts. All of this is being done on top of the mobile vaccine unit. While they are necessary to protect patients and families we are aware they do not reach enough families and they are unsustainable over the long term. The federal response as are necessary to adequately respond to the crisis. While it has virtually spared most children we cant lose sight of the fact they will suffer the greatest consequences of this economicns crisis. Children are being pushed deeper into poverty and Economic Hardships are skyrocketing, particularlyla among immigrant families which in turn exacerbates health disparity. But also the benefits have already been proven effective as theyve lifted millions outut of poverty and increase the workforce participation. They also are strongly associated in improved life expectancy. The centers for Disease Control and prevention recently categorized one of the key interventions. Today come implementing both rapid and longterm measures to reduce Economic Hardships r is critical for preventing future health of the nation. While the act provided immediatelimmediaterelief, the d 30 Million People ofof income eligible teenagers and young adults with disabilities. The act includes the expansion to the Economic Impact payment, Child Tax Credit, earned income tax credit that reduced poverty for years to come. These measures are needed now. Children and families f strugglg cannot continue to wait. Using the tax code to administer the benefits throughout economic recovery are not on