“Apparently, 92 days is enough time to recover when your title is Senator, but t
By omobolanle-kayode-232669222 · September 18, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
“Apparently, 92 days is enough time to recover when your title is Senator, but too much to ask when your title is Mother.”
Mitch McConnell recently returned to the Senate after spending roughly three months away recovering from serious health issues.
His salary continued.
Meanwhile, an American woman can spend nine months growing a human being, endure hours of labor or major abdominal surgery, leave the hospital bleeding, stitched, exhausted and responsible for a newborn—and the United States still does not guarantee private-sector workers federally paid maternity leave.
And please don’t tell women, “You get 12 weeks under FMLA.”
For eligible workers, FMLA is job protection. It is unpaid.
So women save PTO for childbirth. They rely on short-term disability. They calculate how many weeks without a paycheck their household can survive. Some return to work before they are physically or emotionally ready because healing does not stop the bills.
What gets me is the language.
When a senator is away because his body needs time, we call it recovery.
When a woman gives birth and her body needs time, we call it leave.
One is treated as necessary. The other as a benefit you should be grateful to have.
This isn’t really about Mitch McConnell. His 92 days simply expose a much bigger contradiction.
America clearly understands that people sometimes need months away from work without losing their financial security.
We just haven’t decided that mothers deserve the same certainty.