During a press conference on Tuesday at the White House, Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki shut down a dubious line of questioning from far-right reporter Emerald Robinson regarding Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The Transportation Secretary recently went on paternity leave after he and his husband adopted two young children, and bizarrely, certain right-wingers (like Fox host Tucker Carlson) have taken issue with Buttigieg doing so. Carlson even homophobically mocked Buttigieg, saying that the Cabinet official was on “paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed.”
Robinson commented as follows:
‘[A] poll found that 65 percent of voters think that, given what’s going on, he should come back to work.’
The issues to which Robinson referred involve lagging supply chains for goods that Americans would be seeking to purchase. Psaki replied that Buttigieg is, in fact, “at work.” Robinson self-confidently responded that Buttigieg was actually “on paternity leave,” as though she knew better regarding Buttigieg’s actions than Psaki, who is at least in a broad sense one of his literal co-workers. Psaki noted in response to Robinson’s comment that Buttigieg was on paternity leave that she was actually “on a conference call with him this morning.”
Psaki also commented as follows:
‘Listen, Emerald, I think what you’re getting at here is this question about whether men, parents, women, should have paternity and maternity leave. And the answer is absolutely yes. In our view, that is the policy of this administration, that is what we’re pressing to make law so it’s a reality for women, parents, fathers across the country, and we’re not going to back away from that.’
Right-wing reporters so often seem to have a smug air of self-confidence. Meanwhile, as Psaki referenced, the Biden administration has been pushing for the establishment of a paid family leave policy for all Americans. The initiative is a part of the originally $3.5 trillion spending package over which Democratic leaders have been negotiating in recent weeks and which Democrats could pass on their own due to Senate rules allowing for the exemption of certain spending bills from the chamber’s filibuster rules. Watch Psaki’s comments below:
Emerald: A poll found that 65% of voters… thinks he should go back to work
Psaki: He’s at work
Emerald: He’s on paternity leave
Psaki: I was on a conference call with him this morning pic.twitter.com/XWKcbnm7QU— Acyn (@Acyn) October 19, 2021
