WASHINGTON — The list of legislative caucuses in Congress keeps expanding and covers a wide range of topics. The current list ranges from the Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus to the Zoo and Aquarium Caucus. Until this term, though, there had never been a Congressional Dads Caucus.
What You Need To Know
- Rep. Morgan McGarvey said his kids inspired one of his first pieces of legislation when he was serving as a state senator in Frankfort
- A viral photo of Rep. Jimmy Gomez holding his baby on the House floor served as inspiration to create the Congressional Dads Caucus
- The group’s top priorities include bringing awareness to topics like paid family leave and expanding the Child Tax Credit
“I think it’s necessary to highlight the role of working parents in a body like Congress,” said Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., a member of the group. “We have these priorities from Universal Pre-K to paid parental leave to pay equity.”
McGarvey’s experiences as a parent were influencing his work long before he became a member of the Congressional Dads Caucus.
McGarvey and his wife, Chris, are both working parents and have three children: Greta and twins Clara and Wilson.
“Our twins were born 14 weeks premature. They weighed a pound and a half and a pound and 15 ounces,” McGarvey explained. “They went through a lot of struggles and one of the things we discovered is that, while they were in the neonatal intensive care unit, they needed additional formula added to their breast milk in order to thrive and survive.”
But the formula they needed wasn’t covered by insurance in Kentucky.
“And of course, without insurance coverage, it’s almost prohibitively expensive,” McGarvey said.
That time in the hospital inspired one of McGarvey’s first pieces of legislation when he became a state senator in Frankfort.
“We said, if we’re able to make it out of here, we’re going to fight to make sure every family can get access to this type of nutrition,” McGarvey said. “We got the first insurance mandate passed in 21 years in Kentucky.”
Change like that is what the Dads Caucus founder, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., hopes this group can accomplish in Washington. The idea to create the Dads caucus was born when photos of Gomez holding his baby on the House floor went viral.
“What matters is how do we use that attention to really help women, children and families across the country,” Gomez told Spectrum News.
Those viral photos of Gomez and his four-month-old son were taken in January when the election for House Speaker dragged on for days and Gomez’s wife had to return to California. The Congressman ended up bringing their baby to work with him.
“I had no idea it was going to raise so many questions,” Gomez told Spectrum News. “What’s the role of a father? What’s co-parenting, equitable parenting, default parenting? All that kind of just came forward. Why am I getting praised and women don’t?”
The group’s initial members are all Democrats, but they said Republicans are welcome to join. The top priorities for the Dads Caucus include bringing awareness to topics like paid family leave and expanding the Child Tax Credit.
Correction: In a previous version of this story, Rep. Morgan McGarvey was incorrectly identified as a Republican. The error has been corrected. (Aug. 25, 2023)