MADISON, Wis. – Shortly after telling Wisconsin parents they’re on their own when it comes to finding affordable and quality child care for their children, Ron Johnson is back at it. Now, Johnson is telling hard working mothers who receive government assistance that they should just staff child care centers.

 

“Ron Johnson is more focused on pushing his out of touch self-serving agenda than he is helping lower child care costs for Wisconsin families,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Senate Communications Advisor Philip Shulman.

 

Key Points:

 

Wisconsin State Journal: Sen. Ron Johnson calls for mothers on government assistance to staff child care centers

 

  • Sen. Ron Johnson on a telephone town hall Tuesday called for mothers receiving public assistance to help other mothers by staffing the child care centers attending to their children.
  • And he said so — for the second time since 2016 — despite Wisconsin law prohibiting state subsidy payments from going to a certified child care provider where an employee’s child receives care.
  • “When you have mothers on different kinds of public assistance, to me, an elegant solution would be, why don’t we have them help staff child care for other mothers?” he said.
  • “I think there’s an imaginative solution here,” the Oshkosh Republican continued, adding that his idea would be a win for taxpayers, mothers and children.
  • Across the country, child care centers have been facing staffing shortages. The median wage for child care workers nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $25,460 per year or $12.24 per hour. The average wage that child care workers make in Wisconsin is $7.50 to $13 an hour, which for a 40-hour work week puts a family of four at or below the 2022 federal poverty rate.
  • “Ron Johnson couldn’t care less about Wisconsin parents and children,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Philip Shulman said in a statement. “Instead of offering meaningful solutions that would lower costs, he’s pushing a self-serving agenda that harms Wisconsin families.”
  • “There’s got to be an imaginative solution where moms who are getting assistance can be involved in the child care centers for other moms and just be a cooperative type of arrangement here,” he continued

 

AP: Johnson Calls for Mothers on Welfare to Staff Child Centers

 

  • U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson on Tuesday called for mothers receiving public assistance to help other mothers by staffing the child care centers attending to their children.
  • The Republican incumbent made the comment at a telephone town hall meeting, repeating a similar statement he made in 2016, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
  • Wisconsin law prohibits state subsidy payments from going to a certified child care provider where an employee’s child receives care. The law restricting eligible recipients of child care subsidies was enacted after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2009 discovered day care providers collecting subsidies while watching other each other’s children.
  • “When you have mothers on different kinds of public assistance, to me, an elegant solution would be, why don’t we have them help staff child care for other mothers?” Johnson said, calling it an “imaginative solution” to staffing shortages at child care centers across the country.

 

The American Independent: Ron Johnson thinks struggling moms should take care of other people’s kids

 

  • Weeks after saying affordable child care is not society’s problem, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) proposed a solution to the ongoing crisis: make working moms who receive government assistance provide it.
  • He then suggested a different path forward. “In terms of child care, I understand why we prohibit moms from being in government-funded daycare for children. But to me, when you have mothers on different kinds of public assistance, to me, an elegant solution would be, why don’t we have them help staff child care for other mothers?” he said. “I think there’s an imaginative solution here that could be a win-win-win situation across the board: a win for taxpayers, a win for mothers, a win for kids.”
  • Johnson acknowledged that making working mothers care for their own children in addition to other people’s children could pose problems and would require changes to Wisconsin state law. But he added: “There’s got to be an imaginative solution where moms who are getting assistance can be involved in the child care centers for other moms and just be a cooperative type of arrangement here. We haven’t really explored that.”
  • In January, a reporter asked Johnson how parents could back to work with a lack of affordable child care at their disposal.
  • “People decide to have families and become parents. That’s something they need to consider when they make that choice. I’ve never really felt it was society’s responsibility to take care of other people’s children,” Johnson replied. “If you’re proposing that the federal government incur even more deficit spending to provide child care for parents? I mean, I don’t see how that’s a solution at all.”
  • Johnson, whose estimated net worth in 2018 was more than $39 million, is one of the richest members of Congress. He is currently seeking reelection to a third six-year Senate term despite promising not to run again.
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