Chasten Buttigieg slams JD Vance’s terrible idea to cut child care costs in just 10 words

Chasten Buttigieg with a supporter before the South Carolina primary, Friday, February 28, 2020 Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar, Indianapolis Star via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Republican vice presidential candidate and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) recently suggested that American families struggling to afford child care should simply ask their grandparents, aunts, and uncles to help raise their children. In response, Chasten Buttigieg, a gay father and husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, shot down Vance’s suggestion in just ten words.

Vance made these comments during his recent conversation with far-right Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk at Generation Church in Mesa, Arizona. During the conversation, Kirk asked Vance, “What can we do to reduce the cost of child care? … It’s very difficult for working families to get by.”

Related:

Vance nodded and said, “One of the ways that we might be able to take some of the pressure off of people who are paying so much for daycare is to get maybe grandma and grandpa to want to help a little bit more. Or maybe there’s an aunt or uncle who wants to help a little bit more.”

Your LGBTQ+ Guide to the 2024 Election

Stay ahead of the 2024 election with our newsletter covering important candidates, issues, and perspectives.

Vance then said that for those who don’t have “someone who can provide that extra set of hands,” the U.S. should encourage people who want to care for children to “get trained in the skills they need for the 21st century.”

“We have a lot of people who love children and would love to care for them, but they can’t because they don’t have access to the education they need or, perhaps more importantly, because the state government says, ‘You’re not allowed to babysit unless you have some ridiculous certification that has nothing to do with child care,’” she said.

Vance did not explain how he would expand educational options for people interested in careers in child care, nor did he specify what certifications he considers “ridiculous” for child care workers, though he did say, “Don’t force every early child care specialist to go and get a six-year college degree where they have a ton of debt.”

Criticizing Vance’s response, Chasten Buttigieg wrote a terse reply on X: “’Asking grandma to babysit for free’ is not a policy.”