Posted on 10/18/2021 4:53:11 AM PDT by Kaslin
While the nation faces yet another crisis, this time to do with transportation, it happens to be coming at a time when Sec. Pete Buttigieg is on paternity leave.
The issue is not so much that he took paid family leave to bond with his newborn adopted children--at least it shouldn't be. The issue is we're just now hearing about it, and during a crisis. "Oh, So That’s What Pete Buttigieg Has Been Doing," Katie's article was aptly titled, citing insight from POLITICO Playbook.
Writing "Can Pete Buttigieg Have It All?," for the Thursday "West Wing Playbook," Alex Thompson and Tina Sfondeles acknowledgde that the secretary "has been MIA."
Further down they wrote:
They didn’t previously announce it, but Buttigieg’s office told West Wing Playbook that the secretary has actually been on paid leave since mid-August to spend time with his husband, Chasten, and their two newborn babies.
Not only did the office not "previously announce" something that happened two months ago, but the office also isn't forthcoming about it, period:
In the past, Cabinet secretaries felt compelled to come back sooner. Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development JULIÁN CASTRO took about a “week or so” of leave after his child was born, his spokesperson told us.In part, that’s because Cabinet secretaries are not eligible for the same paid family leave benefits that federal workers are. “Individuals in the executive branch who are appointed by the President to positions in the Executive Schedule are not covered by the leave system,” a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management said. “They do not earn leave and serve at the pleasure of the President. The President can choose to allow him to take time off.”
Asked if Biden approved the leave, a White House official didn’t directly answer but said in a statement that “Pete’s been a key member of the team since Day One, and has been critical as we shepherd the President’s agenda across the finish line. We’re overjoyed for him and Chasten, and believe every American should have access to paid family leave.”
Now, there will be people making this about criticizing paid family leave. Fox News host Tucker Carlson made headlines for bringing up "chestfeeding." On Sunday's edition of CNN's "State of the Union," Buttigieg was asked by host Jake Tapper about it:
BUTTIGIEG: As you might imagine, we're bottle-feeding, and doing it at all hours of the day and night. And I'm not going to apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature newborn infant twins.The work that we are doing is joyful, fulfilling, wonderful work. It's important work. And it's work that every American ought to be able to do when they welcome a new child into their family.
I campaigned on that. So did the president. The Build Back Better agenda includes provisions for paid family leave. And, by the way, we're pretty much the only country left that doesn't have some kind of national policy for paid leave.
I think it's down to us and Papua New Guinea. It is long past time to make it possible for every American mother and father to take care of their children when a new child arrives in the family.
It need not be a talking point from the Left that the United States needs to get on board with the rest of the world here when it comes to having a national policy in favor of paid family leave. It's smart and it's compassionate. It's also pro-life. So why are pro-abortion leftists pushing it, then? It should be a conservative talking point, especially for the sake of encouraging families.
In 2016 I wrote for Live Action about paid family leave from a pro-life perspective. For so many women who have abortions, finances tend to play a factor. Specifically, a Guttmacher Institute Study from 2005 found that 21 percent said they "can't leave job to take care of a baby."
In an opinion piece last month for The Washington Examiner, Madeline Fry Schultz asked "Why don’t conservative organizations offer more paid family leave?"
Even if he makes good points about family leave, we shouldn't let Buttigieg off the hook for job failures. When Tapper tried to ask the secretary why he didn't announce it, he demurred, naturally:
TAPPER: We're thrilled for your family. And we're happy that parental leave is a reality for so many in the U.S.Looking back, as a Cabinet secretary, why didn't you or the Department of Transportation make an official announcement when you went on parental leave? And why did you not appoint an acting secretary while you were away?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, so, the way this works is, there is a deputy secretary, Polly Trottenberg, who's doing phenomenal work and who, as deputy secretaries do, can fill in when a secretary is not available.
Now, look, even though I have been on maternity leave, and I'm proud of it, obviously, given the nature of my job, when you take a job like mine, you understand and accept that you're going to have to be available 24/7, depending on what's going on, and you're going to have to engage.
And I did, even if that meant taking a phone call or making a decision from a hospital room. But I am so thankful for the phenomenal work that my colleagues at the Department of Transportation have done and are doing. And I'm thankful to be part of an administration that is walking the walk on our family values.
This administration is full of gaslighting experts. Has Trottenberg actually been doing "phenomenal work," though? If Buttigieg really has been "available 24/7," why are we facing yet another crisis?
To allow the White House and paid family leave advocates to frame it this way and only this way amounts to deceiving the American people.
Those were the old days. Nowadays, men like Pete need two months paid leave from their office jobs.
“Man”?
You assumed there. On top of that indiscretion, you assumed wrong.
As to its absence, whether a new mother or whatever, either get your butt back to work in a few days, hand off to your PRE-ANNOUNCED temporary replacement (delegate) or quit.
As to competence, don’t make me laugh. That TWOT is in that position only because he is gay. A token. Same as when he was a little city mayor.
oh that’s going on my fridge to help me lose weight. ugh.
Sorry but there are plenty of jobs where it is made very clear that because of your duties YOU SHALL BE AVAILABLE IN THE EVENT OF A CRISIS OR EMERGENCY. You are told it is your responsibility to make arrangements for your family beforehand and to make sure your employer knows you have done so. Parental and all other leaves are cancelled. This has been standard for a very loooooong time and oddly enough children even infants are not left tossed on the street. They get cared for often by SHOCKER HERE, the other parent.
No he doesn't. F@ggots should not be allowed near children at all, let alone "adopt" children. This whole things is an example of how f***ed up is our current society. Butt guy should not have a child and he should not have any leave.
He also shouldn't have any government power and he should be put in a mental institution in the manner these people were dealt with back in the 1950s.
If stuff is failing to be produced at the creation end; then NO amount of fiddling with ships and planes and trucks is going to fix anything.
But "CHOICE" is the biggest reason we are SO screwed in this country!
There is a huge supply waiting to be delivered, but you are correct, they don’t have the people to produce the products either.
My question:they no longer have checks going out to people so how are they living if they are not working??
Did you see where the article says he said: “And I did [be available 24/7], even if that meant taking a phone call or making a decision from a hospital room.”
Yeah, like he spent actual time in the hospital as if he were an actual mother....
Gosh, now even men who don’t identify as women can claim to be mothers...
Pete is just nauseating. Why normal women don’t see thru this BS, I don’t know.
Don’t even get me started...
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