Rauner rewrites history on child care cuts

After cutting child care for 30,000 children, Gov. Rauner restored some of the cuts to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Then pretended the cuts weren’t his in the first place.

On September 19, Rauner announced that the Illinois Department of Human Services will broaden access to CCAP as agreed with the legislature in 2015. Now families are eligible if their income is 185% of the federal poverty level, which means 16,000 more children will have access to child care each month.

Rauner said he was “proud to stand with families who are working two or three jobs just to make a living.”

“When Gov. Bruce Rauner first implemented the limits to the Child Care Assistance Program, every expert in the field, including the then-director of the program, predicted disaster. And they were right,” said SEIU Healthcare Illinois Vice President Brynn Seibert.

Rauner’s move doesn’t do enough, she said: “His administration continues to implement back-door cuts that could lead to almost 15,000 child care providers being purged in the coming months. What good is a restored program if there are no providers to give care?”

The damage is irreparable to the families and children who were denied access to child care.

“Bruce Rauner’s assault on early learning will have a lasting impact on Illinois children,” said J.B. Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Kids cannot get their childhood back and providers can’t just resume services like nothing happened.”

“An arrogant, out-of-touch billionaire who has never had to worry about affording childcare, Bruce Rauner clearly doesn’t understand how cuts to these programs ripple throughout generations, stifling opportunity and perpetuating hardship,” said State Senator Daniel Biss. “Bruce Rauner shouldn’t get credit for finally restoring eligibility to a program that he demolished. This is too little, too late for thousands of families across Illinois.”