A provision buried in the COVID-19 relief bill has been criticized as “a personal bailout for bureaucrats” for carving out enhanced paid time off for federal employees, a boost not offered to non-federal employees.
A provision in the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,” which passed the House on Saturday, enables a new Treasury Department fund called the “Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund” to pay federal employees up to $1,400 a week for 15 weeks as paid time off if they have any kids who are not enrolled in full-time, in-classroom instruction as their school. Forbes reported:
Under the bill as currently drafted, full-time federal employees can take up to 600 hours in paid leave until September 30, up to $35 an hour and $1,400 a week. That’s 15 weeks for a 40-hour employee. Part-time and “seasonal” employees are eligible, too, with equivalent hours established by their agency.
“Critics call it a personal bailout for bureaucrats,” said Adam Andrzejewski, writing at Forbes. “It is funded through a new $570 million family leave account exclusively for federal workers.”
“While millions of parents struggle to work from home with kids who are enrolled in shuttered or partially shuttered schools, and millions more left the workforce or lost jobs to care for their at-home children, evidently parents in the federal bureaucracy need their own, personal Covid-19 bailout,” he blasted.
Andrzejewski noted that the provision was “buried” on page 305 of the House bill.
“Wow. The BidenBucks bill pays federal employees up to 15 weeks of paid leave at $1400 per week if they have to stay home to virtual school kids,” reacted writer Phil Kerpen, a lockdown critic.
“You get $1400 once,” he added. “They get it every week for 15 weeks. Swamp takes care of swamp.”
Wow. The BidenBucks bill pays federal employees up to 15 weeks of paid leave at $1400 per week if they have to stay home to virtual school kids.
You get $1400 once. They get it every week for 15 weeks. Swamp takes care of swamp.https://t.co/4A7ktpm1Zc
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) February 25, 2021
President Joe Biden has been criticized for his apprehension to stand up to teacher unions refusing to go back to work, while medical experts strongly advocate for kids’ return to in-classroom instruction.
On Sunday, former President Donald Trump ripped Biden for such apprehension while speaking at CPAC.
Children “must get back and get back right now, right now,” Trump urged, The Daily Wire reported. “The Biden administration is actually bragging about the classroom education they are providing to migrant children on the border while at the same time, millions of American children are having their futures destroyed by Joe Biden’s anti-science school closures.”
“There’s no reason whatsoever why the vast majority of young Americans should not be back in school immediately,” the president said. “The only reason that most parents do not have that choice is because Joe Biden sold out America’s children to the teachers’ unions.”
“His position is morally inexcusable, you know that,” Trump blasted. “Joe Biden has shamefully betrayed America’s youth, and he is cruelly keeping our children locked in their homes, no reason for it whatsoever, they want to get out.”
Related: Trump Unloads On Biden: He Has Sold Out America’s Children To Teacher Unions