Washington, D.C. – For years, the service system that people with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) and their families rely on has fallen far short of meeting their needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified this problem and exposed the cracks and gaps in the care infrastructure when it comes to supporting people with disabilities. The Arc is encouraged by the Biden Administration’s announcement today that The American Jobs Plan includes a $400 billion investment to support and grow the direct care workforce, expand service delivery and eliminate waiting lists so that people with disabilities and unpaid family caregivers can return to the economy. This investment is long overdue, and like crumbling roads and bridges, the Administration recognizes that the home and community-based service (HCBS) system, a central part of the care infrastructure, needs and deserves the same critical investments. Now, Congress must act.

Growing the direct care workforce, expanding access to services, and supporting family caregivers are key to our economic recovery. The Administration’s plan to provide more funding for HCBS, create jobs and increase wages and benefits for direct care workers addresses the rising level of need for these services. It also targets the longstanding inequities experienced by the direct care workforce that were made worse by the pandemic. These direct care workers are mostly women of color; they are denied a living wage due to underfunding of the Medicaid HCBS system that pays their wages. A well paid, well trained workforce that can grow with and meet the increasing need is critical to recovery and to providing people with disabilities and their families quality supports and services they need and want to receive in their homes and community. The Arc was also thrilled to see the plan include a permanent reauthorization of the Money Follows the Person program, a Federal program that supports people with disabilities and aging adults to move out of large congregate settings and back to their homes and communities. The Arc has been advocating for all of these advances for years.

We are pleased with the Administration’s proposal for this major investment in and recognition of the value of people with disabilities, their families, and the direct care workforce. Congress must now act to make this important investment in the service delivery system and the direct care workforce a reality by including these provisions in any new infrastructure and recovery legislation.

“As the largest disability rights organization in the country, The Arc is pleased to see the value of people with disabilities, family caregivers, and direct support professionals recognized and upheld in the Administration’s bold American Jobs Plan.  The proposal is a welcome first step and we will not rest until the needs of people with IDD and the direct support workforce are fully addressed,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc of the United States.