Most members of Congress are wealthy, highly educated, white-collar workers. But they’re charged with creating policies that help Americans who, on average, have vastly different life experiences.

A bill that passed the House of Representatives today with unanimous, bipartisan support aims to chip away at that gap by making it easier for everyday people — particularly working mothers and fathers with young children — to run for office in the United States.

If Rep. Katie Porter’s Help America Run Act, or HR 1623, also passes the Senate, future candidates for the House or Senate will be allowed to use campaign contributions to pay for child care, elder care, dependent care and healthcare premiums.

“As a single working mom myself, I am acutely aware of the challenge it can be to balance running for office and taking care of a family,” said Porter, D-Irvine, who won her 45th District seat in a blue wave that swept Orange County in 2018.

She said on the House floor Tuesday that she was able to piece together child care for her three kids as she ran for Congress, joking that “everyone in America should be grateful that my children were well supervised during the campaign.”

“Democracy is about letting every voice in this country be heard and those voices should reflect the diversity of this country,” Porter added. “There are millions of single parents, men and women, in this country and there is one in the United States Congress.”

Under federal election law, candidates can’t use campaign funds on everyday expenses such as rent and food that would exist even if they weren’t running for office. Since the demands of running for office often force candidates to cut back or even quit their day jobs, that practice stacks the field with aspiring politicians who don’t need to rely on a regular paycheck or employer-supplied healthcare to make ends meet.

An analysis by the New York Times earlier this year found that fewer than 5% of House members cited blue-collar or service jobs in their biographies. And a 2015 survey by the Center for Responsive Politics showed that the median net worth of lawmakers was just over $1 million in 2013, or 18 times the wealth of the typical American household.

“The consequence is that everyday Americans who have firsthand knowledge of the importance of stable childcare, a safety net, or great public schools are less likely to get a seat at the table,” Porter’s bill states.

Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., spoke in support of the bill on the House floor, saying child care costs were a concern when he first ran for Congress. Davis said the Help America Run Act will ease one obstacle that stops some people from pursuing public office.

The bill now heads to the Senate for a final vote.