Update: Where Is Sean Duffy?

One of my favorite items in the Sunday Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is the Congress Following the Vote feature. There is always a short description of major bills voted on in Congress the previous week with a breakdown on how the Wisconsin contingent voted.

Today’s feature (as far as I can see JSOnline doesn’t report on this feature that appears on the print version) lists seven items that were voted on in the House of Representatives this past week. And the votes of all of Wisconsin’s House membership is duly noted… and Representative Sean Duffy is listed as NOT VOTING!

He didn’t vote on any of the bills that were listed for this past week. SO where the hell is Sean Duffy? What exactly are we paying him for?

Update: After I published this last night, I was contacted on Facebook by a Republican activist who let me know that Rep. Duffy was home with his wife while she gave birth to their beautiful daughter. So I would like to congratulate the Duffy family on their new addition.

But as Zach states in the comments…it is certainly nice that Rep. Duffy could take maternity leave…and would hope he will support such paid leave for all Americans going forward!

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6 thoughts on “Update: Where Is Sean Duffy?

  1. His wife just had a baby, but I’m betting he still got paid for that week he took off.

    That’s a pretty sweet deal, considering he’d certainly vote against paid maternity leave for mothers.

  2. Yep, Sean had a baby or as he said in a letter dated 5/11/14 to his constituents including me: “…the arrival of our daughter has absolutely been the top story in the Duffy home this week.”

    Gee, I didn’t even know Sean was pregnant!

  3. Wow! The hypocrisy is great! Zach, Are you sexist? It’s ok for moms to get paid time off, but not dads? Good to see the liberal double standard is alive and well. And Duane, really poor taste on your joke.

    1. How am I a hypocrite for having a problem with Sean Duffy getting paid for his paternity leave while many thousands of women in our country don’t have paid maternity?

      After all, Federal law only requires companies with 50 or more workers to give new mothers 12 weeks leave, and that’s without pay. What’s more, the United States lags far, far behind other industrialized nations when it comes to paid maternity/paternity leave.

      In Sweden, a new mother gets 80 percent of her salary for the first year of maternity and parental leave. There are 18 months of parental leave, two of which are reserved for the father. Mother or father can take the time off until a child is 8.

      England gives 18 weeks maternity leave. For the first six weeks, a mother gets 90 percent of her salary from the government, and $86 a week thereafter. Britain also has parental leave — 13 weeks, anytime, until a child is 5.

      German women get two months of fully paid leave after giving birth. The government and the company kick in. And either parent has the option of three full years in parental leave with some of his or her salary paid and a guarantee of job protection.

      In Italy, jobs are protected, too. And there is mandatory leave — two months before the child is born and three months afterward. A mother keeps getting 80 percent of her salary from the government. And either parent can take up to 10 months off until a child is 3.

      New parents in Canada can take up to a year of leave. Depending on how much they make, they get between 55 to 80 percent of their salaries.

      If you’re going to come here and attack me for supposed sexism and hypocrisy, at least try to come armed with facts.

    2. Sue, I am glad to hear that you support paid maternity and paternity leave. I urge you to contact Representative Duffy and voice your support!

    3. Sue, lighten up! You are too quick to judge and lack a sense of humor. I supported my wife with vacation days or time off in the delivery and following days in the birth of our twelve children. There is something to be said that husbands are in a sense “pregnant” too.

      I remain liberally yours and “pro choice,”

      Duane12

      P.S. Duffy, as evident by his voting record, is not following our Church’s teachings and Pope Francis’ priorities for the poor, the jobless, and disparity of income caused by the greed and tyranny of current capitalism.

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