President Joe Biden signs the American Rescue Plan, a coronavirus relief package, in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Biden signs executive order to help military spouses get and keep jobs

Mike Brest June 09, 12:25 PMJune 09, 12:25 PM

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday that will enact a comprehensive plan for improving the economic and job security of military and veteran spouses and caregivers.

The president’s executive order, which he will sign at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, includes nearly 20 actions designed to enhance career stability and expand employment resources and support for military spouses, who often are forced into less-than-ideal professional circumstances given the propensity for military families to move around.

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“Their partners in uniform question how long they can serve their country when their spouse is unhappy or feels unfulfilled,” first lady and military mother Jill Biden, who has made supporting military and veteran families a top initiative, told reporters. “We can’t ask our service members to choose between their love of country and their love of family.”

The order directs the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget to work with the secretaries of defense, labor, veterans affairs, and homeland security to identify strategies to eliminate barriers to the hiring and retention of military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors, and they have 180 days to present a plan on how to tackle the problem.

The OPM is also to issue guidances to agencies for remote and telework flexibility for military spouses and caregivers and to encourage federal agencies to collaborate to place a military spouse or caregiver in another position following changes to support continuity of care or relocation.

“We’re asking agencies to make it easier for spouses employed by the federal government to take administrative leave, telework, and move offices,” the first lady added. “We’re creating resources to support entrepreneurs. And the executive order helps agencies and companies retain military spouses through telework or when they move abroad.”

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The order focuses on the roughly 16,000 military spouses in the federal government workforce, who are the focus of these efforts.

Fort Liberty was previously named Fort Bragg but was changed earlier this month under a department initiative to remove names and ties to Confederate leaders. Biden signed the order at the base because it has one of the largest military members and spouses populations.

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