Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is the new Speaker of the House. Ryan is already being criticized in his nearly two-week old position, which is sparking headlines. According to the Huffington Post, when Ryan was setting conditions for the speaker bid, he was demanding to ensure his own work-life balance. These demands include work-free weekends with his family.

In the article, Ryan told the Republican conference, “I cannot and will not give up my family time.” It worked: He is now the weekday Speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency.

One would think that such a family guy would be in support of paid maternity/paternity leave. In fact, he does not support it, at least as far as legislation goes. In an article from the New York Times, Ryan says, “I don’t think that sticking up for being a person with balance in your life, for wanting to spend your weekends with your family…I don’t think that means signing up for some new unfunded mandate.”

The mandate he is referring to is paid family leave. As of right now, any new parent may take 12 weeks off work unpaid and is still guaranteed to have a job upon their return. This policy is known as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and only about half of employees are eligible. How many families do you know that could realistically handle one parent being off work unpaid for 12 weeks? On top of that, you are adding to the family, which increases household expenses.

The U.S. is the only industrialized country left to not mandate paid maternity leave, according to the Huffington Post. President Barack Obama is in support of paid family leave, as noted in a New York Times article. Obama’s plan would provide six weeks paid maternity/paternity leave, which is very little in comparison to other industrialized countries.

Many U.S. companies are choosing to offer paid maternity leave to their employees. The New York Times lists a few companies that have joined in. Amazon has become the latest tech company and is expanding its leave up to 20 weeks, as well as offering paternity leave. Netflix, Microsoft and Adobe are others that offer paid leave. Google lengthened its leave from three to five months. The Huffington Post says companies like Google do the math and estimate the cost of replacing an employee costs somewhere between 50 and 200 percent of a worker’s salary.

Even Ryan seems to understand this to some degree. In an article from the Huffington Post, Ryan offers paid family leave to his own staff. When questioned about it, he would not go into details. Demanding weekends with his family and refusing that time to new parents makes him a man of mixed messages. It does not seem like he can relate to the working class citizen, many of whom also do not enjoy the pleasures of work-free weekends with their families.

“I don’t think people asked me to be the speaker so I can take more money from hardworking taxpayers to create some new federal entitlement,” Ryan told Fox News.

“But I think people want to have members of Congress that represent them, that are like them,” he continued to say when specifically asked about paid family leave.

Yes we do, Paul Ryan, yes we do.  

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. They are not directly the opinions of The Slate, its staff or Shippensburg University as a whole. Concerns or letters to the editor can be sent to shipspeaks@gmail.com.

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