Once again, Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance opened his mouth and proved he is a weird, foolish man, and irresponsible man who has nothing to offer working families in our country by putting forth a child care proposal that ignores their needs.
At an event in Arizona in September, Vance advocated for grandparents and other family members to replace professional childcare providers. In Vance’s idea of how the world works, every family is flush with additional members who can provide care at the drop of a hat and are just waiting in the wings of a well-funded retirement to love and nurture their younger relatives. And, each of these family members is also equipped with the tools to educate, socialize, and care for the individual needs of each child they look after.
It’s clear this Republican Vice-Presidential candidate is not living in the same world as you and me.
In his recent remarks, Vance described how his mother-in-law was able to take a year-long sabbatical from her job as a professor to help care for their newborn. To Vance, caring for grandchildren is “the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female.” Women like his mother-in-law should make child-rearing their primary responsibility – their professorships or other professional obligations be damned.
Throughout his campaign, Vance has continued to focus on what women should be doing and what our place in society should be. This obsession with women and our purpose is just weird, not to mention insulting.
It has never occurred to JD Vance that many grandparents and other family members don’t have the flexibility, financial stability, or capacity to care for their loved one’s children because they are busy trying to make ends meet themselves. We’re not all backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalists–some of us have to punch a time clock every morning. We face a range of issues, like economic challenges, illness, living conditions, and basic geography that make it impossible to be full-time childcare providers for our family members.
Even if he didn’t have his mother-in-law willing to care for his newborn, I imagine that he and his wife could have researched their options for care and chose a safe and secure childcare solution that fit their needs. JD Vance has the financial freedom to make the best decisions for his family, unlike most Americans, so a high price tag was not likely an issue.
However, millions of parents in America simply do not have access to this idealistic vision of what a family support system looks like in the 21st century. Many everyday Americans are frankly enraged every time Vance opens his mouth and spouts some out-of-touch rhetoric that fails to provide realistic, affordable solutions to our childcare crisis–or any of the issues at the top of working people’s minds.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, have on the other hand spoken about the importance of a national affordable childcare system—and that system includes paying certified childcare providers a living wage while also bringing down costs for families by making historic, permanent federal investments in child care.
The Democratic ticket also supports permanently expanding the pandemic-era child tax credit and proposed adding a $6,000 bonus for parents of newborns to help reduce child poverty. Child poverty was cut nearly in half across America the last time the child tax credit was expanded—and that percentage was even more significant for children of color. Additionally, Harris has said under her plans that no household should pay more than 7% of their income toward child care.
Families need financial relief to help them with all of the challenges they are facing, and investing to make care more affordable, pay providers a living wage, and providing expanded child tax credits are a workable plan—a responsible and real-world proposal.
As a grandparent, I know the importance of my grandchildren having access to quality childcare and the financial stress it has placed on their parents. Our family is fortunate. My husband and I have been able to provide childcare support for our grandchildren from time to time, but we know we are the exception, not the rule. Parents need reliable, affordable childcare solutions, and providers need thriving wages, health care, and retirement–the same benefits their care allows other parents to pursue.
So, my question for Vance is simple: How many ordinary families has he talked to to come up with his solutions? I’d be interested to know.
Arlene Holt Baker is an advisor to Community Change Action.