[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 3, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 22881-22882]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07174]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 3, 2024 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 22881]]


                Proclamation 10715 of March 29, 2024

                
Care Workers Recognition Month, 2024

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Every day, care workers dedicate themselves to ensuring 
                the people we love are safe and secure. They watch over 
                our children, assist our parents, and support loved 
                ones with disabilities. Their work makes all other work 
                possible. During Care Workers Recognition Month, we 
                honor their tireless efforts; express our gratitude for 
                their unwavering devotion; and commit to ensuring they 
                receive the pay, benefits, and recognition they 
                deserve.

                The services care workers provide are not only 
                essential to so many lives--they are crucial for our 
                economy. But for too long, care workers' paychecks have 
                not reflected the value of their demanding and 
                important work. In fact, care workers are among the 
                lowest paid workers in the country. Of the millions of 
                care workers in our Nation, the majority are women of 
                color, deepening racial and gender wage and wealth 
                gaps. Each year, half of the long-term care workforce 
                and nearly 20 percent of the child care workforce end 
                up leaving their jobs, which makes it difficult for the 
                families who depend on care workers to find the stable 
                and secure support they need.

                My Administration is committed to getting care workers 
                the resources and respect they deserve. In 2021, we 
                invested over $60 billion from our American Rescue Plan 
                in the care economy. That funding helped keep 225,000 
                child care centers open during the COVID-19 pandemic, 
                ensuring that the 10 million children they served had a 
                place to go. It also provided increased pay and bonuses 
                and secured better benefits for child care workers, 
                helping hundreds of thousands of mothers with young 
                children enter or re-enter the workforce. Through our 
                expanded earned income tax credit alone, we delivered 
                financial relief to nearly 300,000 child care workers. 
                My Budget includes robust proposals in care 
                infrastructure, including through investments in 
                caregiving for military families and investments in 
                child care to increase accessibility and guarantee 
                affordable, high-quality child care from birth until 
                kindergarten.

                In addition, the Executive Order I signed last year 
                includes the most comprehensive set of actions any 
                administration has taken to increase access to high-
                quality care and support for caregivers. It directs 
                almost every cabinet-level agency to take over 50 
                actions that provide more peace of mind for families 
                and more dignity for care workers who deserve jobs with 
                good pay and good benefits. For example, the Department 
                of Health and Human Services released a proposed rule 
                that would raise Head Start teacher wages by more than 
                $10,000 on average and strengthen Head Start's ability 
                to recruit and retain staff. Further, I directed the 
                Department of Veterans Affairs to give veterans who 
                need assistance at home more flexibility to pick their 
                own caregivers. The Department of Labor has invested 
                tens of millions of dollars in boosting the quality of 
                care jobs and expanding access to them.

                Additionally, agencies are working to improve the 
                quality of home care and nursing home jobs. My 
                Administration is taking steps to get home care workers 
                the pay they deserve by making sure they get a bigger 
                share of Medicaid payments, and to strengthen 
                requirements for nursing homes

[[Page 22882]]

                so that staff are not stretched thin and residents get 
                the attention they need. My Administration is also 
                promoting apprenticeship programs that put careers as 
                registered and licensed nurses within reach so that we 
                can both add and keep long-term care workers on the 
                job.

                Care workers are our Nation's hidden heroes. They 
                support so many of our families across the country, and 
                it is our responsibility to ensure that they are not 
                left behind. This Care Workers Recognition Month, in 
                addition to expressing our gratitude for their selfless 
                dedication to our loved ones and honoring their 
                tremendous value to our society, we also recommit to 
                ensuring that they are rewarded for their extraordinary 
                contributions to America.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2024 as 
                Care Workers Recognition Month. I call upon all 
                Americans to celebrate the contributions of care 
                workers to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, 
                activities, and programs.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                eighth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2024-07174
Filed 4-2-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P