As we discussed, the Duchess of Sussex began cold-calling Republican senators on their private lines this week. Politico initially got the scoop, with a few senators (like Maine’s Susan Collins) confirming to news outlets that they had received calls from Meghan. The calls were about paid family leave, an issue which Republicans have been trying to kill for years. Different deals are being worked on, and New York’s Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has one proposal, and she was the one in touch with Meghan initially. Gillibrand, as it turns out, was the one to give her colleagues’ phone numbers to Meghan. The British media and a handful of Republican douchebro congressmen are very triggered at the fact that Meghan “used her title,” aka her married name, during the calls. Well those crybabies are about to wet themselves with this:
In a furious dash to ensure a universal paid leave policy — however small — makes it into the final version of a care package weaving its way through Congress, the Democratic legislators who have advocated for the policy for years are trying everything — including working with the Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan recently called Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who in 2013 proposed her own paid leave bill, and expressed her desire to help. Last month, Meghan wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Chuck Schumer as an “engaged citizen and parent” who recently gave birth to her second child, Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor, with Prince Harry. Leave for their family was essential to provide the best care they could for their daughter, she wrote, but it’s a benefit most Americans go without.
When Gillibrand and the duchess spoke, the senator offered to give her the numbers of her Republican colleagues, including Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine and others. They received direct calls from Meghan.
“I could hear how sincere she was about advocacy,” Gillibrand told The 19th.
Gillibrand said she plans to invite Meghan to Washington, D.C., for a bipartisan dinner she is hosting in the coming month with all the women senators, a tradition Vice President Kamala Harris restarted this year, to give her a platform to discuss paid leave. Gillibrand said Sen. Deb Fisher, a Republican from Nebraska, told her she is “delighted and looking forward to that conversation.”
Working with Meghan on advocacy is one piece of a larger concerted effort that has largely been focused on helping to bring Sen. Joe Manchin, the most vocal holdout on paid leave, on board with some version of the proposal that this week is back in contention after seeming all but dead in the water just a week ago.
I forgot that all of the lady senators used to have at least one dinner together every year and that the tradition stopped at some point. Senators used to do Secret Santa too, but I think that stopped as well. Anyway, I look forward to Meghan turning up in DC for the women’s dinner. I hope she continues to call all of the senators and apply all of the pressure she can. As for the British peeps who are super-salty about an American citizen using her married name to advocate for a bipartisan issue which will provide relief to families of every race, economic status and political party, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe those dudes simply would have been engorged with rage that a Black woman was doing and saying anything?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
