Issued August 11, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC: Service Employees International Union (SEIU) International President Mary Kay Henry released the following statement today in response to the passage of the Senate version of the 2022 fiscal year budget:
“Right now, we have two options as a nation: we can build our country back better by listening to the voices of working families and building on the principles laid out by the Biden Administration or we can continue to ignore the cracks in our system that have always existed but been even more deeply exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The $3.5 trillion budget passed today by Senate Democrats provides hope to working families who want to move our nation forward.
"By advancing the Build Back Better package, and making commitments to living-wage care jobs with the opportunity to join together in a union -- a path to citizenship and climate justice, Congress can take bold measures needed to meet essential workers’ demands for common-sense and transformative policy solutions.
“We have a long road ahead. SEIU members and worker leaders in the Fight for $15 will work with Congress and elected officials at every level to build a society where every family can thrive no matter what they look like, where they’re from or what they do for a living.
“We’ll continue organizing our communities, marching in the streets, and raising our voices until elected leaders deliver on the full promise of Biden’s Build Back Better plan, so that we can create an economy and democracy that works for every single one of us.”