Luna slams Buttigieg after receiving no maternity leave following child birth, files new bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., bashed U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for receiving “maternity leave” after she was not able to take time off from Congress following the birth of her child.

“Pete Buttigieg got maternity leave and I didn’t. And he’s a dude. It’s time Congress gets with the times,” Luna said on social media.

She received pushback from individuals online for her comments, highlighting how Republicans were the ones who removed proxy voting in Congress.

Buttigieg spent two months in 2021 on parental leave from his position in the Biden administration while he and his husband cared for surrogate twins they had adopted.

The congresswoman filed a House resolution this week, allowing for mothers in Congress who recently gave birth to designate another member to vote for in their place for a total of six weeks following the birth.

“Currently, if a congresswoman has just given birth, she’s not allowed to vote,” Luna said. “It’s a slap in the face to every constituent who sent us here to represent them and it’s not going to take place on my watch.”

“Congress needs to get with the times. I’m introducing legislation that will allow women who give birth, to vote,” she said.

Luna explained that although the legislation seems reasonable enough, there are members who are against it. She argues that those same members are the ones who voted by proxy nearly the entirety of the 117th Congress.

“New mothers in congress should not be forced to choose their careers over children or choose their children over their career,” she added. “This should be a nonpartisan issue. One one hand, you have it championing family values, and on the other, it’s giving a woman’s voice in Congress all that more power.”