Monday, November 2, 2015
Speaker of the House, Republican Paul Ryan...
says paid family leave for me, but not for thee.
We are the only major industrialized country that does not provide paid family leave for births, illnesses, or tragedies that all families have to deal with.
House Republicans Give Themselves 239 Days Off,
Average American Worker Only Gets 12
"In addition, 30 percent of Americans work on the weekend and nights, which means they don’t get to spend nearly as much time with their families. Furthermore, the median household income stands at $50,500 and a quarter of households make less than $25,000 a year.
In fact, Paul Ryan makes even more money now as House Speaker, getting a whopping paycheck of $223,500 while doing less work than his predecessor and while presiding over a Congress that will likely be one of the least productive in American history as it takes a vote every day to repeal Obamacare while doing little for the people they are supposed to serve.
[skip]
"New House Speaker Paul Ryan made it clear to Fox News that he thinks only Republican lawmakers like himself should have paid family leave.
Prior to taking the job vacated by John Boehner, Ryan demanded that he receive paid personal family time even though he opposes letting American workers have the same benefit at their jobs.
The United States is currently the only developed nation in the world that doesn’t mandate paid personal leave to workers so they can spend time with their families to deal with illnesses, tragedies, or raising a new child.
Yet Paul Ryan made sure that he secured a personal family leave mandate for himself, and Fox News grilled him for it on Sunday."
So there you have it: The "Family Values" TeaPublicans and their obvious contempt for Americans who struggle to hold families together during stress-filled times. The American people have to look carefully at what the Congressional TeaPublicans DO, but not what they say, because what they do is enrich themselves, take long paid-for time off, and thumb their noses at the American people.
Also, Ryan promises to do nothing about immigration reform and will have none of that "cooperation and compromise" nonsense.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss -- just sleazier.
On another issue concerning the "Family Values" TeaPublicans, Carly Fiorina admitted she lied to the American people when she falsely claimed "that 92 percent of all jobs lost during the president’s first term belonged to women.
Fact-checkers concluded that this was a misleading statistic because it does not factor into the president’s entire first term. When Martha Raddatz brought that up on ABC’s This Week this morning, FIorina admitted that 'in this particular case, the fact-checkers are correct.' ”
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8 comments:
The attitude of entitlement among conservatives is startling.
Like his heroine Ayn Rand, who decried Social Security, but later received benefits,
Ryan is either ungrateful or hypocritical:
"After his father's death, Ryan received Social Security survivors benefits until his 18th birthday, which were saved for his college."
While Social Security paid for his college education, Ryan became enamored of the
"Austrian School" and found no problem biting the 'socialist' hand:
"At a 2005 Washington, D.C. gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, Ryan credited Rand as inspiring him to get involved in public service" - - "In his Atlas Society speech, he also described Social Security as a "socialist-based system". T-squared PT = Typical T(oilet) P(aper) Thinking.
The number of days off comparison is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. The days off for congressmen include weekends.Days off for workers does not. That accounts for about 100 of the days difference.
Having read the transcript, I don't think Ryan even came close to saying what is alleged by the "Addicting Info" article. Here's what he said...
ROBERTS: In saying that you would accept the speakership, Mr. Speaker, you said that you wouldn't take the job if it interferes with your family time, which has opened up a national conversation about the importance of spending time with your family. And there are many people in this country who would like to see you make your first priority legislation that gives people the backing in the federal government so that they can have time with their families.
Would you make that one of your first priorities?
RYAN: I don't think people asked me to be Speaker so that I can take more money from hard-working tax payers to create some new federal entitlement. But I think people want to have members of Congress that represent them, that are like them.
Don't you want your member of Congress to be a citizen legislator who lives with you, among you, who has your own kind of concerns? Who wants to spend time with his children on Saturdays and Sundays?
I'm going to keep living in Janesville, Wisconsin, where I'm from, where I raised my family. I'm going to keep going back and forth to D.C., and yes, Sundays are going to be family days and Saturdays are family and constituent days. That I think is what most people want in their life is a balance.
So if you're asking me, because I want to spend -- I want to continue being the best dad, and husband, and speaker I can be, getting that work-life balance correct, means I should sign up for some new unfunded entitlement, that doesn't make any sense to me.
This is simply a perk of the job. I could be wrong, but our President gets a house in which to live, as part of his, or her job. To claim that Ryan is entitled to this freebie, while he denies it to the rest of America, seems to be the same as claiming that Obama is entitled to a rent free home, while he denies it to the rest of America.
For me, there are plenty of reasons to be critical of Ryan, but this just seems like muckraking...
Dave, I agree with Roberts in that this conversation about Ryan wanting to be the best father and husband points to the fact that many families suffer from not having paid family leave for times when the family is under stress. The Speaker of the House job is stressful and sometimes requires that the Speaker stay in Washington for weeks without being able to be home with his/her family to be the best husband or wife or father or mother the Speaker can be. Ryan negotiated so that he is assured that when his family needs him, he'll be there. But he believes allowing this for working families would be an entitlement.
That's how I and others see the issue. Plus there's the fact that Congress has scored 15 pay increases since 1988 (thanks to the automatic formula it adopted in 1989), but it has approved only seven increases in the minimum wage during that same period.
Congresscritters, Democrats and Republicans, look after themselves very well with our money.
Ryan has stated clearly that being with his family is foremost in his priorities. That is the core issue of paid family leave, not just being able to spend time with them on the weekends.
For me, there are plenty of reasons to be critical of Ryan, but this just seems like muckraking
I agree Dave.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) defended his demand for more personal family time, but insisted that he would not support paid family leave legislation because it would be a new “entitlement.”
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host John Roberts pointed out that “there are many people in this country that would like to see you make your priority legislation that gives people the backing of the federal government so that they can have time with their family.”
Although the Family Medical Leave Act protects workers’ jobs for up to 12 weeks if they are forced to take time off for family illnesses or a new baby, employees who take time off also forfeit their pay. Republicans have blocked President Barack Obama’s call to ensure that workers can take paid leave.
“I don’t think people asked me to be Speaker to so that I can take more money from hardworking taxpayers to create some new federal entitlement,” Ryan opined on Sunday. “But I think people want to have members of Congress who represent them, that are like them.”
“Don’t you want your member of Congress to be a citizen legislator who lives with you among you, who has your own kinds of concerns, who wants to spend time with his children on Saturdays and Sundays?” he asked. “I’m going to keep living in Janesville, Wisconsin where I’m from, where I raise my family. I’m going to keep going back and forth to D.C.”
The new Speaker said that he would reserve at least two days a week for his family. However, legislation to guarantee paid leave for workers was out of the question.
“If you’re asking me, because I want to spend — I want to continue being the best
That's not "muckraking" that's reporting what was said. Ryan wants special consideration for him and his family but not for other Americans.
WE, THE PEOPLE, absolutely DID NOT ask for Ryan to be Speaker, first of all. Secondly, IT IS OUR TAX MONEY that pays his paycheck and his EXCESSIVE benefits and time off. And thirdly, Ryan is supposed to REPRESENT the people who NEED time off for the serious events that take place in their families. We aren't even asking for WEEKENDS, like Ryan is .... we want days off for catastrophes, not PLEASURE like Ryan is.
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