'Marshall Plan for Moms' wants $2,400 stimulus checks for mothers

NEW YORK, New York -- Fifty women, including several celebrity moms, signed a letter featured in the New York Times calling on Pres. Joe Biden to pay mothers a $2,400 monthly payment for their work during the pandemic.

Actresses Charlize Theron, Amy Schumer and Eva Longoria are among the women who signed the call to action.

The letter, which was led by founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, Reshma Saujani, wants the Biden administration to implement a "Marshall Plan for Moms," which includes paying American mothers and passing policies addressing parental leave, affordable childcare, and pay equity.

"COVID has decimated so many of our careers," read a statement on the Marshall Plan for Moms website. "Two million of us have left the workforce, at a rate of four times that of men, in September alone. Millions more have been forced to cut back our hours or work around the clock to keep our jobs and be full-time caregivers. This is not an isolated incident -- it is a national crisis. [Pres. Biden] didn't create this problem, but [the Biden] administration has an opportunity to fix it."

The Marshall Plan was passed in 1948 and gave financial aid to Europe after World War II.

The group is asking Pres. Biden to implement the short-term, monthly payment to mothers depending on their needs and resources in his first 100 days in office.

Meanwhile, Pres. Biden took executive action Friday to provide a stopgap measure of financial relief to millions of Americans while Congress begins to consider his much larger $1.9 trillion package.

Most economists believe the United States can rebound with strength once people are vaccinated from the coronavirus, but the situation is still dire as the disease has closed businesses and schools. Nearly 10 million jobs have been lost since last February, and nearly 30 million households lack secure access to food.

AP writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.