This was such an awful take. Church-based childcare lacks much of the government oversight that non-religious centers adhere to. There’s a great book by former senator Sean Faircloth called Attack of the Theocrats that highlights a number of disturbing facts and news stories where children were neglected, harmed, and even died while under the so-called “care” of such institutions.

Even if we were to choose to ignore those realities, there’s still the fact that Vance’s idea means spending federal money to fund religious centers.

And here comes the point where, based on previous GOP behaviors, we have to think about what changes would likely occur in order to create this “neighborhood child care” model. A reasonable person who cares about the best interest of the children would probably support giving such child care groups a way to become trained and licensed, to ensure a high quality of care and safety for the children. Unfortunately, the GOP tends to fight against oversight and regulation. Without more specific details on how they would enact this change, we can only speculate on the proposed details. However, knowing the GOP playbook, I wouldn’t be surprised if their answer boils down to more deregulation, to allow more centers to proliferate with fewer “barriers.”

I hope that isn’t the proposed case. Either way, the idea of federal funding being used to prop religious organizations does not inspire my confidence.