Joe Klein on Big Government Breastfeeding
10/11/2010 by Peter HartThis past Sunday's edition of NBC's Meet the Press (10/10/10) featured two guests talking about the midterms, the economy and public sentiment: conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and Time magazine's Joe Klein.
Klein has been on a road trip through the middle of the country to assess how Americans are feeling (that is, Americans who don't live in "urban" areas or the "deep South," as Klein explained).
Trying to explain how voters feel about Washington, Klein provided this anecdote:
They have no idea what the Democrats stand for, except for these big, slovenly pieces of legislation that we've seen which inevitably contain ridiculous provisions. One candidate in Nevada, a Republican running for Congress, said that there's a provision in the healthcare reform bill that small businesses have to set aside areas for breastfeeding women to use their breast pumps. My dad was a small businessman. He didn't need to be told by the government to do that... He would have just said, "Use my office."
The idea that businesses easily accommodate working mothers will likely come as a surprise to working mothers--most of whom would probably disagree with the idea that a dedicated place to express breast milk is a "ridiculous provision" in the healthcare law.
Perhaps working mothers should all work for someone like Joe Klein's father. Since that's not possible, then maybe laws to protect such workers are necessary after all.
And for the record, there does not appear to be anything in the law that is directed primarily at "small businesses." If anything, such employers (those with fewer than 50 employees) would seem to be eligible for a "undue hardship" exemption.
Tags: Joe Klein, Meet the Press
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October 11th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
[...] Joe Klein on Big Government Breastfeeding [...]
October 13th, 2010 at 9:42 am
What??? You're completely missing the point here. Klein was talking about misconceptions about the democrats the legislation they have passed. He was referring to that breastfeeding mandate as one of those misconceptions.
Your reaction is from far left field. In other words, Peter Hart, you don't know what you're talking about.
October 14th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
He called it a "ridiculous provision." How else should people take that?
October 15th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Joke Lyin is not a liberal but he sometimes plays one on TV.
October 15th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
The poliTITions are only concerned about BREASTFEEDING BIG CORPORATIONS; ie: subsidy, tax relief, government representatives pushing other countries to let the corporations in at favorable conditions…"you understand, its do as we say, or we call in the military."
"Little people? Who has time for their problems? Let 'em figure it out for themselves. In the mean time-up the taxes."
October 15th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
"He was referring to that breastfeeding mandate as one of those misconceptions."
No, that's what people like Joe Klein are supposed to do. He used the term 'ridiculous provisions' but then instead of pointing out that it what the Republican candidate said was an actually a blatant lie, he instead used it as an opportunity to slam the government for supposedly telling business what they should doing.
October 15th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
How come I never heard of that provision about a breastfeeding area. Joe Klein should check to find out if there is any such provision. It sounds unlikely to me, but I am not that familiar with it.
October 15th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
I think maybe you are all idiots… have any of you read the article… READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2010 at 1:04 am
Well I assume you are talking about the above article Uncle Chuckie since the quote was taken from a Meet the Press show.
The above article is actually a bit confusing because it is unclear if the comment about the father and his small business was Joe Klein editorializing or part of the republican candidate's story. I wouldn't be surprised that a so called journalist would editorialize using a candidate's campaigning anecdote as a starting point and treating it as fact but as I read the quote it just doesn't seem to me that Klein is editorializing but just repeating the R candidate's "the dems want to smother us with government" electioneering. So it is the candidate's father not Klein's that would say "use my office."
Of course I could be completely wrong.vvvvvvvv
October 16th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
Was it all some kind of off-color joke? Was the small-business-owning dad suggesting that he'd sit in his office watching the young working mom pump milk?
October 17th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Not sure about all the inferences in the article. But here are some facts about worksite lactation accommodation.
There is a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Section 4207, that requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide for worksite lactation accommodation. Here is a link to the Dept. of Labor initial worksheet with more details on this: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.htm
And to locate a summary of information on this go to the US Breastfeeding Committee website:
http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/Workplace/WorkplaceSupport/WorkplaceSupportinHealthCareReform/tabid/175/Default.aspx
Several states have worksite lactation accommodation laws. California has had a law since 2002.
Education for both employers and mothers is needed to inform them of the law and how to fulfill the requirements. For more info: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab&group=01001-02000&file=1030-1033
October 17th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Thanks for the info, Karen Farley. The article by Peter Hart was concise and easy to understand; anybody who knows about Joe Klein's "work" (he's "Joke Line" to many of Glenn Greenwald's readers) knows what an insufferable boor he can be.
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Klein quoted the Republican about him saying "ridiculous provision". Klein said that HIS father would have said, "just use my office". Both seemed very clear to me. I read the entire article in Time.
October 22nd, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Klein said that his OWN father would have said, "just use my office".
October 29th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
[...] Joe Klein has his take in the new issue of the magazine (11/8/10). He writes that "with the prospect of [...]
March 4th, 2011 at 11:00 am
[...] first guest was Time's Joe Klein. He seems to identify with public sector workers, he knows they're not getting rich, but he [...]
February 8th, 2012 at 9:30 am
[...] It does not need to be a “chamber,” which sounds fancy and expensive — moms could only hope for as much! As of the health care bill’s passage in 2010, 24 states already had laws on the books about breast-feeding in the workplace, and society had somehow managed to survive. Still, that hasn’t stopped (mostly male, surprisingly!) enemies of the bill from worrying about the “breast milk police,” and calling the provision “ridiculous.” [...]