Looking back, then ahead

A year ago, America was reeling from an attack on the Capitol and our democratic process. COVID cases were at an all-time high and, because only a small percentage of people had received their first vaccines, very few were benefitting from the protections afforded by them. The economy was in a fragile state as businesses struggled and people were out of work and unable to support their families.

While our challenges are far from over, we’ve made historic progress in our effort to build back better. At the end of 2020, only 2.8 million Americans had received a COVID-19 vaccine; today more than 206 million Americans are fully vaccinated. Despite the spike the U.S. is currently experiencing due to the Omicron variant, cases appear to be milder for many Americans, especially for those who have been vaccinated and boosted. We are not out of the woods yet, but if we continue to follow public health guidelines and look out for our neighbors, I believe we can put this pandemic behind us once and for all.

Much of our recovery from COVID-19 has come from the American Rescue Plan, which was passed into law last March. The Rescue Plan supercharged our fight against COVID-19 by increasing our Nation’s capacity and outreach to get shots in arms as quickly as possible. It also gave American families a lifeline during a period of economic turmoil, including $1,400 economic payments, the expanded child tax credit — which alone cut child poverty nearly in half — and enhanced unemployment benefits to help people who were laid off from their jobs through no fault of their own. Through the American Rescue Plan, Congress also started to finally address how critical caregiving is to our economic recovery by helping more seniors and people with disabilities receive care in their homes and helping families pay for child care.

We then turned our attention to another issue to help strengthen our economy, and one that has been neglected for decades: our Nation’s crumbling infrastructure. President Biden’s infrastructure bill became law in November, sending billions of dollars into the Commonwealth to fix our roads and bridges; expand public transportation; and help Pennsylvanians get to work, school, and the doctor faster, safer and cheaper.

Because of the infrastructure law, more Pennsylvania families will have access to broadband internet so kids can do their homework and families can stay in touch. It also provided a historic investment in clean energy to help Pennsylvania compete in the 21st century and protect our environment, from providing clean drinking water to cleaning up abandoned mines in our communities.

I’m ready to get to work to make 2022 another landmark year. I believe we can finally move beyond the pandemic. I believe we can finally restore the Voting Rights Act and protect Americans’ sacred right to vote from state-level assaults across the country. And I believe that we can lower costs for working families with expanded access to home and community-based services for millions of seniors and people with disabilities, affordable high-quality child care, and an investment in clean energy and family sustaining jobs.

It is my honor to represent our Commonwealth in the United States Senate, and I will continue to advocate for the best interests of Pennsylvanians here in Washington.