The Trump administration has finally pledged to do something about the absurd reality of childcare in America. No longer, Vice President JD Vance announced, will women be penalized for staying home with their children. Under this pro-family administration, at-home work will be valued just as much as working outside the home.
Ha ha ha.
I wrote about the nascent Trump childcare plan for Slate this week, so head over there for all the details. Basically, the proposal would pull from a pot of money dedicated to childcare expenses for low-income women (overwhelmingly single moms) and give some of it to married women who stay home — but only married women (single mothers would not be eligible), and only married women whose husbands work full-time. The policy is technically gender-neutral insofar as it pays married parents to stay home. But in reality, we’re talking overwhelmingly about married mothers.
The Trump plan is, like so much of this administration’s policies, pulled from a Heritage Foundation proposal. I wrote about that proposal in much greater depth back in February, so you can also check that post out if you want to see where this administration might be headed. The answer: Nowhere good.
One silver lining here is that even Republicans realize that American parents are in crisis and that they need to do something about it. What they’re doing, though, is imposing a traditional gender hierarchy on American families — rewarding those who adhere to their ideas, punishing those who do not. Most American families do not have a breadwinner husband and a stay-at-home mom, and most mothers do not want to drop out of the workforce entirely. This is right-wing social engineering under the guise of “helping” families.
But the fact that Republicans are addressing the childcare issue at all is a good reminder that this could be an area for bipartisan cooperation. Because what American parents need isn’t all that complicated. At the crux of the American parenting crisis is time.
