Together—we passed the American Rescue Plan—one of the most consequential rescue packages in American history. We're already seeing the results.
At a mass vaccination center in Glendale, Arizona, I asked a nurse what it's like. She looked and said every shot feels like a dose of hope. A dose of hope for the educator in Florida who has a child who suffers from an auto-immune disease. She wrote to me that she was worried about bringing the virus home. When she got vaccinated, she sat in her car and just cried. Cried out of joy, cried out of relief.
One of the defining images of this crisis has been cars lined up for miles waiting for a box of food to be put in the trunk. Did you ever think you'd see that in America? And, maybe most importantly, thanks to the American Rescue Plan, we are on track to cut child poverty in America in half this year. In the process, the economy created more than 1.3 million new jobs in 100 days. More new jobs in the first 100 days than any president on record.
Scientific breakthroughs took us to the Moon and now to Mars, discovered vaccines, and gave us the Internet and so much more. These are the investments we make together, as one country, and that only government can make. Time and again, they propel us into the future. It creates jobs connecting every American with high-speed internet, including 35 percent of rural Americans who still don't have it. This will help our kids and businesses succeed in a 21st Century economy. And I am asking the Vice President to help lead this effort.
For too long, we have failed to use the most important word when it comes to meeting the climate crisis. Jobs. Jobs. For me, when I think about climate change, I think jobs. Now, I know some of you at home are wondering whether these jobs are for you. You feel left behind and forgotten in an economy that's rapidly changing. Let me speak directly to you.
By the way – let's also pass the $15 minimum wage. No one should work 40 hours a week and still live below the poverty line. And we need to ensure greater equity and opportunity for women. Let's get the Paycheck Fairness Act to my desk for equal pay. It's long past time. The Defense Department has an agency called DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, that's there to develop breakthroughs to enhance our national security which led to the internet and GPS and so much more.
That's why I'm introducing the American Families Plan tonight, which addresses four of the biggest challenges facing American families today. First, access to a good education. When this nation made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, it made us the best-educated and best-prepared nation in the world.
Jill is a community college professor who teaches today as First Lady. She has long said any country that out-educates us is going to outcompete us, and she'll be leading this effort.We guarantee that low- to middle-income families will pay no more than 7% of their income for high-quality care for children up to the age of 5. The most hard-pressed working families won't have to spend a dime.
The American Rescue Plan lowered health care premiums for 9 million Americans who buy their coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Let's make that provision permanent so their premiums don't go back up. Let's do what we've always talked about. Let's give Medicare the power to save hundreds of billions of dollars by negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs. That won't just help people on Medicare–it will lower prescription drug costs for everyone.
A recent study shows that 55 of the nation's biggest corporations paid zero in federal income tax last year. No federal taxes on more than $40 billion in profits. A lot of companies evade taxes through tax havens from Switzerland to Bermuda to the Cayman Islands. And they benefit from tax loopholes and deductions that allow for offshoring jobs and shifting profits overseas. That's not right.
What I've proposed is fair. It's fiscally responsible. It raises the revenue to pay for the plans I've proposed that will create millions of jobs and grow the economy.