Empowering Working Families
DC’s future is only as strong as our working families. We all deserve good jobs with good wages, targeted tax relief, and a safety net that supports us with dignity if our lives are upended. At a time when Congress is slashing Medicaid, SNAP food assistance, and other programs we rely on, the District should be stepping up to fill the void. Instead, our most recent proposed budget stripped some DC residents of dental coverage or health insurance altogether and slashed emergency rental assistance by more than half — leading hundreds of our residents to desperately wait in line for hours out in the cold. Paid Family Leave benefits and long-promised raises for tipped workers were also scaled back, and DC’s local child tax credit was defunded completely last year.
Balancing budgets on the backs of working families does not grow DC — investing in people does. We can empower working Washingtonians by safeguarding worker rights and delivering good union jobs, like when the Council secured labor protections for DC residents in the RFK football stadium deal. We can drive down poverty in our city by implementing DC’s local child tax credit, which the Council restored to give working families $1,000 per child. And we can care for our neighbors by reversing cuts to effective health care, housing, and food assistance programs that DC residents rely on.
As Mayor, I’ll continue my work empowering DC’s working families through good jobs, tax relief, and critical safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid.