Apparently, Congressmen Don't Have Kids...

Or they're pocketing so much dough that they don't need to worry about maternity leave benefits. If they did have kids -- and I guess this would only apply to the female Congresswomen -- they would surely have passed a bill providing paid maternity leave to federal employees by now. What's that? You didn't know that the federal government didn't provide paid maternity leave? Surprise! Neither did I. Let's just say I found out, oh in my 6th month of pregnancy, that I would have to take Leave Without Pay for 3 of my four months on maternity leave. And the only reason that I was able to receive a paycheck during the first month was because I had to use all of the vacation days and sick leave that I had accrued [a whole 3 weeks!] in the few months that I had been working with the goverment. Anyway, we were fortunate enough that I was able to still stay home with my baby for a few months, although money was [and because of that] still is tight. Seeing as how Youngest just turned 10 months old last week [!] the memory of the unpaid maternity leave [and my current lack of vacation and sick leave] is still very fresh. So imagine my surprise when a co-worker sent me this link to an article in yesterday's Washington Post. According to the article, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has introduced a bill that would provide eight weeks of paid maternity leave to federally employed women after childbirth, and 5 days of paid paternity leave to new fathers. The bill would also give 5 days [woop-tee-doo] of paid leave to federal employees who adopt children. Federal parents would also receive eight hours of paid leave to take their children to the doctor or dentist and for parent-teacher meetings at schools. I think it's great! And really about time. The Bush administration will be looking at this issue as part of its budget planning for fiscal 2008. Can't wait to see what happens. In the meantime, I'd like to thank Senator Stevens for being sensitive enough to this issue to introduce this bill.

He must be pregnant.