The people left out of the infrastructure deal

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

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🗓️ 6 August 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

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Summary

The infrastructure bill making its way through the Senate doesn’t include money for caregivers. Today, we dive into what it’s like to take care of a partner who has a disability and to often not get compensated for that labor.

Earlier this week, the much anticipated infrastructure bill started moving through the Senate with bipartisan support. What’s left out of the bill, though, is what’s being called “human infrastructure” — money for things like quality child care and care for elderly people and those with disabilities.

Today, we’re diving into one of these groups that’s being left out of the bill: people who care for their partners who have disabilities.

Video editor Amber Ferguson learned that in most states, if you’re giving care to a partner with a disability, you cannot be compensated if you’re married. And those people who aren’t getting compensated for their labor are usually women.

“It's just not sustainable for me to do this every single day in the way that I have been,” said Jane Morgan, who has been caring for her boyfriend largely by herself since he became quadriplegic in 2019.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports.
0:09.8	I'm Martine Powers.
0:11.8	It's Friday, August 6.
0:17.9	In the last 18 months, it feels like we have all been thinking more about the labor that
0:22.5	is caregiving.
0:23.5	It's been over a year of us moving through life like this.
0:31.5	It's just not sustainable for me to do this every single day in the way that I have been.
0:36.1	Earlier this week on the podcast, we talked about the huge infrastructure bill that finally
0:40.8	has this bipartisan support and does seem to be moving through this Senate.
0:44.9	Well, what I'm talking about today is the human infrastructure.
0:49.3	It's essential to that foundation as well.
0:52.5	And yes, that bill is enormous.
0:54.9	But it is also essentially half of the $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan that Biden had
1:00.1	proposed earlier this spring.
1:01.9	It truly went the 21st century.
1:05.2	And once again, lead the world to truly build an economy from the bottom up in the middle
1:10.0	of the world, to truly deal everybody in this time.
1:13.2	We need to invest in our people.
1:14.9	We need to invest in our people.
1:17.6	And a lot of what ended up getting left out of the bill is what's being called human infrastructure.
1:22.3	Things like providing money for quality child care, elderly care, and in-home care.
1:28.2	And today, we're going to dive into one part of what isn't being addressed with the
	...

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