Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks at Rally in Support of Child Tax Credit and EITC Expansion

March 24, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much, Manny, Rich, Candis, and thank you. And we should be really clear about the movement forward of our city. I cannot thank our Albany lawmakers enough, and the City Council representatives who are here, they heard the working people agenda and they were clear last year when we delivered on some of the most significant things that would impact working people so much. And when we say working people, we’re talking about HTC, 32BJ, DC 37 — so many more of our local men and women, TWU. I could go on and on and on, and even those who are in the private sector industry, what you are fighting for right now, and this is the beauty of it, you are saying, yes, this is going to impact my membership, but it’s also going to impact those outside your membership.

People get lost sometimes on the fights that you have that goes beyond just your membership. Your battle to increase the minimum wage had nothing to do only with your memberships, it helped everyone who was involved. And we are here once again, Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. What is unique about both of them? Tax.

If you are an undocumented person and you walk into a supermarket and you pay tax on that bread, no one is asking you, “Where’s your documentation?” We should not be asking people their Social Security number for those benefits that are coming from their tax dollars. That’s what this fight is about. Albany knew that when we went to Albany and fought to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit the first time in 20 years. They knew that when Senator Gounardes pushed forward the red light cameras, because if a child is struck by car, doesn’t matter what their documentation was. We knew that when we increased the childcare dollars, billions of dollars from Albany. Give it up to them again, man. Good job. Good job.
We knew it in the city council when we put money into the fair futures for those who are in foster care. We knew it when we put money into those children who needed to go to college that were foster care children. 

We knew it when we pushed forward all of these agendas. We are clear that when you’re talking about working people, it shouldn’t matter what union member you are part of or if you’re in a union or not, we all part of one union, that’s working class people, because working class people built and run this city, and that’s what this battle is about.

We are unified around this issue. So here we are again on our way to Albany. Two important significant things, as Rich raised. It is clear that the Earned Income Tax Credit helps lift children out of poverty. So we can either pay now a small amount or pay later a larger amount. The goal is to lift families out of poverty. That’s what my mother wanted to do when we was raised on that hardass welfare cheese. Y’all know what I’m talking about.

Audience: Yeah, we do.

Mayor Adams: If she would’ve had that help, if she would’ve had the Earned Income Tax Credit, the tax credit, if she would’ve had the childcare dollars, if she would’ve had the support that she needed, if she would’ve had all of those things, we would’ve been on a different path. If we’d have done more, we would not be filling Rikers Island right now.

So matched with our goal of closing the building, we want to close the pipeline that feed the building. And this is one of the ways of closing the pipeline that feeds the building. So we are unified on these two important issues, among others, but I don’t think we should ever lose focus on what Rich stated. The facts are here. This raises people out of poverty. For Manny and Rich and Henry and all of our union members to come together and say, “Here’s some particular things we could do to lift people out of poverty.” Just as you were laser focused on increasing the minimum wage, laser focused on those things that create poverty in the first place. This is so important. And to have this unified body of city and state and union and working people focus on a working people agenda, that’s the way we save this city.

You helped bring in a working people mayor. That’s why we have a working people agenda. And this is an important moment for us in Albany and the City Council. We must be unified around lifting working people out of poverty. Building affordable housing, improving our educational system, making sure our city is safe, because working people are dealing with the violence in our city and working people are dealing with those systems that prevent people not to go on a pathway of violence. So it’s working people that must have an agenda that must be pushed forward in all of our chambers in the City Council and in Albany. And that is why we’re here today.

I’m proud to be with my Albany and City Council colleagues that are saying clearly we won’t agree on everything, but we agree on enough to lift working people out of poverty. That’s why we’re here today. So let’s be clear on our message. We know we can’t stop inflation, but inflation should not control our destination. And as long as we focus on those items, we can move working people out of poverty. That’s in our control. We don’t control things outside of that, but we can control Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and making sure we build more affordable housing so people can have a place to live and raise healthy children and families in a working people city. Thank you, unions. Let’s make it happen.

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