Clinton Pledges More Job Flexibility, Opportunities for Military Families

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday pledged to help military families better balance work and home by providing more resources for spouses and increasing flexibility related to duty assignments and leave for service members.

Clinton, who served on the Armed Services Committee when she was in the Senate, rolled out a five-and-a-half page briefing on her campaign website focused on improving military families’ access to education, employment, childcare, and health care. The campaign has a separate fact sheet outlining Clinton’s platform on veterans and the Veterans Affairs Department.

“The process for military assignments and expectations for military careers combined with the rigorous demands of military operations too often results in service members and their families choosing between spending time with family and rising in the ranks,” the platform said. Clinton’s policy proposals include making it easier for service members to switch between active duty, National Guard, or Reserve service to better meet their career and family needs, as well as “take a knee” or break, by allowing them to “explore educational opportunities, take care of ailing family members and raise children.”

The former secretary of State also vowed to increase training and employment opportunities for military spouses, including expanding public hiring preferences, and pushing the private-sector to hire more military spouses, similar to initiatives to employ more veterans. Blue Star Families just released a study showing that the unemployment rate among military spouses in 2015 was 18 percent compared to a 4.4 percent unemployment rate for women over 20 years of age in the civilian community. “More than half of those who do work face crippling underemployment – they are six times more likely to earn salaries below their education and experience level,” said the study, conducted by the Sorenson Impact Center, part of the University of Utah’s business school.

Clinton also pledged to modify the duty assignment process for dual-military couples “to improve not just the percentage of tandem assignments, but also the quality of those assignments in terms of encouraging positive career progression.” The agenda on the Clinton campaign’s website was more of an overview of the issues facing military families than a detailed, in-the-weeds policy proposal. For instance, Clinton didn’t propose a specific amount of parental leave, simply saying she would “ensure that family leave policies meet the needs of our military families so that, for example, new parents, as practical and consistent with mission, can care for their families at a pivotal moment.”

Many of Clinton’s ideas echo changes and flexibilities sought by the Defense Department, various lawmakers and the White House. The Senate’s fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization bill would guarantee paid leave for up to six weeks for the primary caregiver of a newborn or adopted child, and three weeks for the secondary caregiver in military families. The Defense secretary actually has broad discretion over determining paid maternity leave, and this winter Ash Carter increased Defense’s maternity leave from six to 12 weeks. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, have made elevating and helping military families a signature issue during their time in the White House. Clinton’s proposal would make their Joining Forces initiative a permanent part of the president’s executive office.

The Pentagon this past winter also announced several other military family-friendly initiatives including extending the department’s child care development centers to at least 14 hours a day; installing rooms at DoD facilities for new mothers to breastfeed comfortably; and pursuing an amendment to existing statutory authority allowing service members to postpone moving to a new duty station if they decide that it’s in the best interest of their family to stay put. Frequent moves – a fact of military life – add extra stress on military families, and are often why people leave the service.

Some of Clinton’s other proposals affecting military families include:

• Boosting financial planning and protection services.
• Easing military moves by allowing families to “continue receiving their housing allowance for up to six months after a military member’s permanent change of station move under common-sense circumstances.”
• Performing “an intensive review” of Defense Department schools.
• Increasing access to technology to provide families in remote locations with better services and support.