What world does J.D. Vance live in?
In his universe, teachers and guidance counselors can’t work in school systems unless the have children. Women must stay in marriages with abusive spouses. People with children should be given more votes than those without kids. “Childless cat ladies” are ruining the nation.
His pro-creation views are now legendary and likely have led to him being one of the least popular vice presidential nominees in history.
And now this: If parents are having trouble paying exorbitant child care costs, Vance’s answer is simple: Get grandma and grandpa to help.
Why didn’t we think of that?
“I think one of the things that we can do is make it easier for family models to choose, or for families to choose whatever model they want, right?” Vance told a right-wing audience. “So one of the ways that you might be able to relieve a little bit of pressure on people who are paying so much for day care is make it so that, you know, maybe, like, Grandma or Grandpa wants to help out a little bit more, or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle that wants to help out a little bit more. If that happens, you relieve some of the pressure on all the resources that we’re spending in day care.”
Well, because maybe grandma and grandpa are no longer living, or don’t live nearby, or don’t have the energy or good health to provide child care, or maybe they’re still working themselves. Or maybe they simply don’t want the job. Maybe they have pickleball on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
More from CafeMom: JD Vance Supported a Report That Blamed Rising Divorce Rates on Porn & Premarital Sex
Changes to Social Security could also impact grandparents' finances.
And if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Vance are elected and GOP plans to cut Social Security somehow are enacted, those reductions could force seniors to work longer.
Is Vance proposing federal help? Nope. Does he support the Child Tax Credit, which helped lift half of the nation’s kids out of poverty before it expired? Nope, the Ohio senator wasn’t even around for the vote. Does he support other possible tax help for parents who need child care? He hasn’t proposed any. Paid paternal leave? Some GOP members do, some don’t. His position isn’t clear.
Now, while Vance appears to be proposing that these child care-providing relatives get paid — like family members who want to take care of grandma or grandpa, for instance — his plan to train more child care workers doesn’t answer the question of how elected officials can help lower the costs.
'What we’ve got to do is actually empower people to get trained in the skills that they need for the 21st century,' Vance said.
“We’ve got a lot of people who love kids, who would love to take care of kids, but they can’t, either because they don’t have access to the education that they need, or, maybe more importantly, because the state government says you’re not allowed to take care of children unless you have some ridiculous certification that has nothing to do, nothing to do with taking care of kids.”
The training of the workforce — even if it provided price relief through a larger supply — wouldn’t take effect for years. Besides, hasn’t Vance already said that if you don’t have kids, you shouldn’t teach or care for kids?
—Kevin Manahan, nj.com (TNS)
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