MADISON – Today, the Assembly voted on a variety of child care related bills. Representative Alex Joers (D-Middleton) voted against these pieces of legislation. He released the following statement:
“I cannot begin to express my disappointment with how this fall session is beginning. After more than half a year of advocacy from families and child care providers asking for a bare minimum investment to stave off the crisis, we are here to take up a package of bills tacked together with zero bipartisan input because my GOP colleagues started to feel the pressure. Our child care providers are in crisis, they are desperate to keep their doors open, but this package does nothing to address that crisis.”
Assembly Bills 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, and 392 make various changes to child care protections. This includes adjusting the teacher-to-child ratio to further burden providers and authorizing 16-year-olds to supervise children unaccompanied.
“This package speaks to the lackluster approach and the growing Republican solution for struggling families: Just do more with less. I’m beyond disappointed, but not entirely shocked. This package fits in perfectly with their narrative: ‘If you just cut a few more corners and stretch providers and families a little thinner, they’ll be able to make it work.’
“Families have already had to ‘make it work’ for far too long. Republicans can say ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ as many times as they want, but all it does is push people out of the workforce.
“The solution is Child Care Counts funding. To my Republican colleagues: when you all are ready to be serious about it, I’ll see you at the Governors Special Session on September 20th.”
