JD Vance on Wednesday offered up his detailed policy plan for lowering the crushing cost of child care.
I must say, it's genius stuff.
Vance was in Arizona, campaigning at an east Mesa church jammed packed with the MAGA faithful, there to listen to his answers to the problems that confront regular Americans — the ones who don’t go to Harvard or work as venture capitalists.
There was the usual God blessing and migrant bashing and such. But it was Vance’s solution (scroll to the 39-minute mark in the video) to the soaring cost of daycare that perhaps offered the best window into this guy’s preparedness to be one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
Vance wants Grandma to help with daycare
Cue Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk: “How will we lower the cost of daycare?”
Vance: “That is such an important question, Charlie. I think one of the things that we can do is make it easier for family models to choose, let the families chose whatever model they want, right? 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 daycare is make is so that maybe, grandma and 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 daycare.”
I’m sure Grandma would be delighted to “help out a little bit more.” Grandpa, too, if the pair of them didn’t have to keep working until they turn 70 or beyond.
Or if perhaps they didn’t need their kids to take of them as they age.
Could this guy be any more out of touch? Turns out he can.
Training isn't the problem for child care workers
Assuming granny is unable or unwilling to devote her “postmenopausal” years to raising another generation of kids — maybe she’s on a cruise or, you know, dead — Vance has another suggestion for how to bring down the skyrocketing cost of child care.
“Let’s say you don’t have somebody who can provide that extra set of hands,” he said. “What we’ve got to do is actually empower people to get trained in the skills that they need in the 21st century. 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.
Arizona needs:More foster care families, less group homes
“So, empower people to get the skills they need. Don’t force every early child care specialist to go and get a six-year college degree where they’ve got a whole lot of debt and Americans are much poorer because they’re paying out the wazoo for daycare. Empower working families. Empower people who want to do these things for a living, and that’s what we’ve got to do.”
What can the feds do? Vance wasn't around to vote
I empowered myself to check out what it takes to work as a “teacher-caregiver” in a licensed child care center in Arizona.
Turns out you just need to be 18, have six months of child care experience and a high school diploma or the equivalent.
You do have to learn CPR and a few other things that I would guess don’t seem “ridiculous” to most parents handing over their precious children. But that’s hardly the stuff of a six-year college degree.
Vance didn’t say anything about any federal policy that might be forthcoming to help parents.
Nothing about extended parental leave and certainly nothing about expanding the child tax credit. In August, the Senate voted to kill a bill that expanded the $2,000-per-child credit. Vance wasn’t around to vote, opting instead to campaign in Arizona at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Nope, it’s up the grannies of the world to take care of America’s children.
Maybe we could enlist the aid of all those childless cat ladies?
Reach Roberts atlaurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at@LaurieRobertsazand on Threads at@LaurieRobertsaz.
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