Organizations from across the care spectrum highlight contrast on key economic issues impacting American families and working people.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 17, 2024
Contact: Christina Coleman, [email protected]
Care Can’t Wait Action Coalition Calls Out Trump-Vance Ticket For Abysmal Record on Care and Working People
Organizations from across the care spectrum highlight contrast on key economic issues impacting American families and working people.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the wake of Donald Trump’s selection of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential nominee, Care Can’t Wait Action, a collection of organizations representing the largest coalitions of labor unions, advocacy organizations, and grassroots groups focused on caregiving and families in history, called out the Republican ticket’s abysmal record on care and policies focused on women and families.
The group highlighted that the Republican ticket has no real agenda to address the challenges faced by women and caregivers when it comes to access and affordability of essential programs families need, from child care to paid leave to aging and disability care. What is known is that Senator Vance has argued against universal child care, calling it an attack on the working poor in 2021, and is a champion of Project 2025, the signature policy platform of his ticket, advocating for the elimination of Head Start, the Department of Education and more.
The current RNC platform, the central policy platform for the Grand Old Party (GOP), includes less than a single paragraph on care, with vague language referencing the affordability of home care.
Coalition partners offered the following statements:
“JD Vance – a former venture capitalist backed by billionaires – called universal child care an ‘attack’ on working families. These two candidates for vice president could not be farther apart when it comes to this critical issue. Vice President Harris considers affordable child care a ‘critical issue for families’ and pledged to raise taxes on billionaires to pay for care. While a Biden/Harris administration will continue to fight to expand affordable caregiving options, the Trump/Vance ticket has made its loyalties clear: it would side with billionaires at the expense of women and families, again and again,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund.
“There are two visions for the future of this country – the Trump/Vance ticket wants to keep us isolated and alone, under increasing pressures to care for aging parents and young children, struggling to afford the care we need. They want us to feel shame for wanting to work, and to blame ourselves for our inability to make it all work. The Biden-Harris Administration wants to invest in our ability to care for our loved ones, to work, and to contribute. They want to lower the costs of child care and aging and disability care, and pass paid leave to allow us to take time away from work to care for loved ones. Two paths: you’re on your own to manage impossible choices between work and family or we’re here to support you to do both with dignity. The choice is clear,” said Ai-jen Poo, Senior Advisor to Care in Action.
“The glaring absence of any impactful care policies in the RNC platform underscores a profound disconnect from the realities facing millions of families in our country. Even though child care is one of the most expensive bills parents pay, caretakers are underpaid–or not paid at all–while they struggle to keep their centers open. Anyone who thinks universal child care is an attack on working families has spent too much time with their billionaire backers. The Trump-Vance ticket will fail families and put the 21st century child care system we need further out of reach. Our nation deserves a commitment to policies that will not abandon us and instead support parents, ensure fair wages for care providers, and create an equitable and affordable care system for all,” said Lorella Praeli, Co-President of Community Change Action.
Senator Vance’s record only serves to compound the impact of Trump’s nonexistent efforts on care and his administration’s harmful policies, which primarily benefited the ultra-rich. Further, the closure of childcare centers left millions of working Americans in a lurch during the depths of the COVID pandemic, and the loss of thousands of essential care workers who gave their lives is a stark reminder of their disregard for their sacrifices to keep our economy running.
In stark contrast, the Biden-Harris-led American Rescue Plan served to stabilize and invest in our caregiving systems impacted by the pandemic, including making historic investments in home and community-based services and care for older adults, people with disabilities and care worker wages. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finalized a rule that will significantly reduce the cost of child care for more than 100,000 low-income working families and ensure that over 140,000 childcare providers are paid more fairly and on time. Modernizing our care infrastructure with paid leave, affordable child, elder, and disability care, and a strong care workforce is central to the Biden-Harris economic agenda for a second term. The Biden-Harris ticket has demonstrated a consistent commitment to making care more affordable and accessible, including for our caregivers.
About Care Can’t Wait Action:
Care Can’t Wait Action launched in 2023 to mobilize tens of millions of voters centering care as a winning issue for candidates this cycle, representing one of the largest coalitions of labor unions, advocacy organizations, and grassroots groups focused on care in history. supporting new investments in care by a wide margin, the coalition has pledged a $50 million investment in issue advocacy and electoral campaigning, the coalition is poised to mobilize tens of millions of voters in the upcoming 2024 election.
The Care Can’t Wait Action Coalition includes: ❖ AFL-CIO ❖ AFSCME ❖ American Federation of Teachers ❖ Be A Hero ❖ Care in Action ❖ Child Care for Every Family Action ❖ Community Change Action ❖ Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy ❖ Family Values @ Work Action ❖ MomsRising Together ❖ National Partnership for Women & Families Action Fund ❖ National Women’s Law Center Action Fund ❖ Oxfam America Action Fund ❖ Priorities USA Action ❖ Paid Leave for All Action ❖ Service Employees International Union ❖ Supermajority ❖ United Domestic Workers