‘Real War on Women’: Biden Team Denied Couple Paid Parental Leave He Claims to Support

The Family and Medical Leave Act was a “first step” when it became law 30 years ago and should be expanded, President Joe Biden said earlier this year. But some employees hired by Biden’s predecessor apparently didn’t deserve the benefit, The Daily Signal has learned.

Department of Homeland Security records reveal that Biden’s presidential transition team in early 2021 denied a request for paid parental leave from two married DHS employees as they tried to care for the medical needs of a premature baby who spent the first week of life in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The couple, Cherie Short and Michael Bars, were political appointees of the Trump administration, who say they weren’t interested in salaries but only health insurance to help care for their infant.

The denial of paid parental leave to them by the incoming Biden administration came after homeland security officials said Biden-Harris transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, had reviewed the couple’s request.

One email reviewed by The Daily Signal said a “high level conversation” occurred about whether to grant paid leave for Short and Bars.

“It had all been approved,” Short said of the couple’s request for paid parental leave in late 2020. “It took more of an effort to deny us than to give it to us.”

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