JD Vance has been accused of being “out of touch” after he said his solutions to the rising cost of daycare were asking family members to pitch in and abolishing “ridiculous” certifications for child care workers.
“Maybe grandpa and grandma want to help a little bit more. Maybe there’s an uncle or aunt who wants to help a little bit more,” the GOP vice presidential nominee told Charlie Kirk at a Turning Point USA event on Wednesday.
According to Vance, for those without access to family members, “empowering people to get the skills they need” is crucial to bringing down daycare costs.
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He added, “We’ve got a lot of people who love kids, who would love to take care of kids, but who can’t.”
Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, attributed this dilemma, in part, to inaccessible education. “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 with taking care of kids,” he said.
The senator expanded on his childcare comments on Thursday, acknowledging that “parents or grandparents might not be able to help, but they might *want* to, and for those families federal policy should not be forcing one particular family model,” in a post on X.
As for childcare workers’ requirements, he pointed to a “totally broken pathway for young people looking to enter the industry and said “I obviously support health and safety regulations, there are some absurd regulations out there that restrict the supply of child care providers—from kinship providers to local churches.”
Vance’s original comments quickly gained traction on social media with “Grandma and Grandpa” trending on X and users on the platform slamming the Ohio statesman.
One parent quipped “I tried this approach to lowering daycare costs before my youngest started school, but every time I asked my parents for help watching my daughter, they were dead.”
Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, husband of Pete Buttigieg, also also chimed in, writing, “Ask grandma to watch them for free is not policy.”
“Maybe Grandma and Grandma still work. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa have health issues. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa live 1000 miles away. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa don’t want to. The RNC shouldn’t be planning Grandma and Grandpa’s retirement for them,” Jacie Floyd posted on the app.
A fellow grandmother responded to Floyd’s message, writing “Grandma has to work to pay her cancer treatment.”
Others on X mentioned the proposed GOP cuts to Social Security and raising the retirement age in their replies to Vance’s comment.
“Maybe if Republicans didn’t raise the retirement age then grandma and grandpa could watch the grandkids,” a grandfather posted on the platform.
The Republican vice presidential nominee’s most recent controversial comments come as his favorability rating remains subpar. Since Vance’s ascension to Trump’s right-hand man, his off-the-cuff remarks—including that the “childless left” have “no physical commitment to the future of this country”— have fueled accusations of him being “weird.”
