Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday defended being AWOL on paternity leave amid the US’s crippling supply-chain crisis — while warning the upheaval could stretch into the holidays and beyond. .

Buttigieg said he considers his leave “not a vacation, it’s work” — as he offered no new solutions to immediately address the urgent situation that has left cargo ships idling off US ports, store shelves empty and Christmas gift-giving threatened.

He said Congress could help alleviate the gridlock of goods by passing President Biden’s stalled infrastructure bills amid infighting among Democrats — a move that would do nothing to address the dire situation in the short-term.

As for Buttigieg, he has been blasted by critics for being missing in action for two months while on leave after the birth of twins Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg in August with hubby Chasten Buttigieg.

“And I’m not going to apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature newborn infant twins,” he said referring to the Fox News host who mocked Buttigieg for trying to “figure out how to breastfeed.

“Even though I have been on maternity leave, and I’m proud of it, obviously, given the nature of my job, when you take a job like mine, you understand and accept that you’re going to have to be available 24/7, depending on what’s going on, and you’re going to have to engage,” he claimed