Raising kids is work, except when its not
House Republicans emphatically agree with Mitt Romney that stay-at-home moms work just as hard as anybody in the workforce. But when it comes to applying that standard to mothers on welfare, they draw the line.
Romney weighed in on the work of stay-at-home moms last week after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen suggested that Ann Romney, a stay-at-home mom, had “never worked a day in her life.” Mitt Romney defended his wife’s choice to stay home with their five sons by saying, “All moms are working moms.”
“Well, I agree,” Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said of Romney’s comment.
But when Mica was informed of a Democratic bill that would allow child rearing to count toward the required “work activity” that must be performed by recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families — the federal program born out of welfare reform in 1996 — he had a change of heart.
“It’s a stretch. It’s a stretch. It’s a stretch,” Mica told The Huffington Post earlier this week.
Specifically, the bill, called the Women’s Option to Raise Kids (WORK) Act, would allow low-income mothers with children ages 3 and under to stay at home with their children and continue receiving benefits. It will be introduced by Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and has about half a dozen Democratic cosponsors.
“It really is a luxury these days for a mom to be able to stay home and raise the kids,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a cosponsor of the WORK Act, said Thursday on MSNBC. “But if you’re lower income, it’s just virtually impossible right now not to look for some outside income.”
I love the part about how the Romneys taught their sons to be self-reliant. Right; I’m sure they haven’t benefited at all from their parents’ millions.