* The governor was asked today if the state can pay people to stay home (via unemployment insurance), then why can’t the state pay people to go back to work. His response…

The government’s not paying people to stay home. In fact the vast majority of people who are getting those benefits are not staying home because they’re lazy, because they don’t want to get a job. They’re staying home in part because they can’t get child care, in part because there is a fear of either the situation at the workplace where they may get COVID or, very importantly in many families, a concern that they may bring COVID home to family members who are vulnerable. So we’re working very hard to try to help them mitigate those challenges.

The first and foremost thing that we’re doing here is, as you know, 60-plus percent of the people who were out of work as a result of COVID-19 were women. Lost their jobs, or they had to stay home because their kids were at home, they need to take care of their own. They can’t go to work because they have children at home … And so we’re trying to mitigate that in every way we can. We’re doing it in our Department of Aging in elder care, we’re doing it for childcare here.

I think it is a Republican, right wing talking point that says that people are just choosing to be lazy, to stay home to get the extra few hundred dollars while they can.

As always, please excuse any transcription errors.

* Hopefully, this helps people get back to work. Press release…

Building on his commitment to making Illinois the leading state in the country for families raising young children, Governor JB Pritzker today announced a significant expansion of financial assistance for both families and providers that allow children to return to quality, affordable child care programs. Eighty percent of families will pay less for child care under this latest round of changes, to be administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).

“When I took office, I said that we are aiming to make Illinois the best state in the nation for families raising young children. Today, I’m proud to announce another important step in that direction. We are making a series of new investments to make childcare more affordable for Illinois families, and deliver more dollars to providers,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “We’re ensuring quality childcare is accessible for more people – allowing more people to return to work without worry about where their kids will go during the day and helping Illinois’ childcare network rebuild after the last 16 months.”

Beginning July 1, DHS will facilitate the following improvements:

• Reducing family payments: Family payments or copayments — the monthly amount parents are required to pay to childcare providers for the cost of their child care — will be permanently lowered to $1 per month for families with incomes at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Limit (FPL). 80% of all families will see a reduction in their monthly co-pay.

• Preserving co-pay percentage limits: Family payments will remain permanently capped at 7% of family income, with co-pays for 80% of families falling below that rate.

• Helping families as income grows: Going forward, CCAP families will now remain eligible until the family’s income surpasses 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), instead of the current cap of 225%. The income thresholds to be eligible for and to remain on the Child Care Assistance Program have been updated to current FPL and State Median Income (SMI) amounts. Payments will increase from there on a sliding scale based on family income. These improvements allow families more flexibility as people begin to return to work and rebuild from the financial impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.

• Increasing reimbursement rates by 3.5% for all CCAP providers to help providers keep their doors open and fully recover from the pandemic.

• Improving predictability for providers: If a child receiving CCAP attends at least 70% of eligible days in a month, providers will be paid for the full month. The previous policy required an 80% attendance rate. This change will allow for more stable payments for providers in the event of occasional absences.

“The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an acute child care crisis. Working parents lost care and child-care workers found themselves without jobs. Parents, mostly mothers, left jobs or reduced hours to fill the gap. Child care is the work that enables all other work; child care allows parents to work while their children experience the myriad of benefits that come from high-quality early care and education and I’m pleased to work with Governor Pritzker to provide this much needed relief,” said Grace B. Hou, Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services.