Posts Tagged ‘military families’
Supporting Our Military Families
The First Lady is asking 100 percent of Americans to support the brave men and women in uniform and their families back home. Here are some things you can do in your community to get started:
- Stay informed about the activities and concerns of military families in your community and across the nation;
- Take time out to get to know and express appreciation to military families;
- Help ensure military families have the opportunity to share their stories and voice their concerns in your community;
- Help ensure the places where you work, worship, and participate in community life connect their activities to addressing military families’ unique challenges; and
- Identify opportunities in your communities to tap into the unique skills, experience and commitment to service our military families display each day.
Today, the First Family will host more than 1,200 military heroes and their families for a Fourth of July celebration at the White House. Tune in for the Second Annual “Salute to the Military” USO Concert, featuring The Killers, Brandi Carlile, Cedric “The Entertainer,” and “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band. The evening wraps up with a viewing of the fireworks on the National Mall. You can watch the whole thing live on WhiteHouse.gov/live starting at 7 PM EDT. Happy Independence Day! …more
The First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden Discuss Military Families
First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden met at the White House today with Leadership 18, a coalition of national non-profit chief executive officers, to discuss military family matters. They were joined by Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his wife Deborah Mullen, Dr. Cliff Stanley, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and other White House officials. The First Lady and Dr. Biden have issued a national call to action to address the unique challenges facing military families, build stronger civilian-military community ties, and engages and highlights the service and sacrifice of military families. The meeting today provided an opportunity to discuss ways to build a lasting national commitment to support and engage military families.
Leadership 18 is a coalition of the some of the country’s largest and most well respected human development non-profit CEOs. Altogether, the 22 member organization serves more than 87 million people annually and has more than 5.5 million staff and volunteers. The coalition represents long established charities, faith-based organizations, and nonprofits focusing on social and health issues supporting and promoting the safety, health, well-being, social and economic development of individuals and families. …more
First Lady Michelle Obama Announces Presidential Directive on Military Families
First Lady Michelle Obama today announced that President Obama has directed the National Security Staff to lead a new 90-day review to develop a coordinated Federal government-wide approach to supporting and engaging military families. Building on work and expertise by the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, the review will involve nearly twenty federal agencies as well as the White House Domestic Policy and National Economic Councils and the Offices of the Vice President, the First Lady, and Dr. Biden.
Specifically, the review will:
- Set strategic military family priorities for the next ten years and identify key military family concerns and challenges;
- Review a cross section of public and private programs to identify the most promising ideas and programs that positively support military families;
- Develop options for departments to integrate military family matters into their strategic and budgetary priorities;
- Examine opportunities for Federal policies and programs to stimulate new and support existing state and local efforts achieving military family readiness goals and meeting military family priorities;
- Identify opportunities to leverage the skills and experience of military family members in national and community life; and
- Strengthen existing feedback mechanisms for military families to voice their concerns and views on the effectiveness and future direction of relevant Federal programs and policies.
Congressman Connolly Receives National “Friend of Our Military Kids” Award
One of Five Congressmen to Receive Award for Helping ‘Our Smallest Heroes” in VA and US
Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia was honored this week for his efforts to provide tangible support to children of National Guard and Reserve personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the sons and daughters of all severely-injured service members.
Connolly received the “Friend of Our Military Kids” award at an event recognizing April as the Month of the Military Child. The award was presented by Our Military Kids, an organization recognizing military children as our “smallest heroes” and dedicated to supporting children and families through grants for enrichment activities and tutoring while a parent is serving overseas.
Connolly was recognized for his work to help secure federal funding for the Our Military Kids program, which has provided more than $3 million in grants to military families in Virginia and across the nation.
“Too often we forget about the sacrifices and stresses our military spouses and children face when a loved one is deployed to a war zone,” Congressman Connolly said. “I am proud to be part of an effort to provide support to these military families during these very difficult times.”
Connolly was one of only five members of Congress to receive the awards this week at a Capitol Hill ceremony which featured Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell, General Craig McKinley, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and other distinguished guests. Also honored with Connolly were Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia, Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, Solomon Ortiz of Texas, and Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio.
Our Military Kids began in 2005 as part of a pilot program with the Virginia National Guard. Since 2006, Our Military Kids has awarded more than 600 grants to military families in Virginia. In 2009, over $3 million in awards were distributed by Our Military Kids to families across America.
See further details on Our Military Kids.
April – Month of the Military Child
Supporting military families is a top Obama Administration priority. April is Month of the Military Child and gives the nation the opportunity to recognize the character, strength and sacrifices of America’s military children as well as the role they play in the armed forces community. Today, there are 1.7 million American children and youth under 18-years-old with a parent serving in the military and approximately 900,000 children and youth with one or both parents deployed multiple times. Learn more about the Month of the Military Child here.
Watch a video of First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden talk about the important role military children play in the armed forces community:
Military Families’ Tax Break Will Hit Cities at a Tough Time
Just when local officials thought they couldn’t get any more bad news about shrinking tax revenues, they must now deal with a new federal law that will take away even more from city coffers.
The act, passed on Veterans Day, will extend residential benefits to spouses of military personnel, allowing them to retain residency in their home state for tax and voting purposes.
The change is a major help to military spouses, some of whom have been forced to move because of a service member’s job. Because of the act, they’ll no longer have to change their residency each time they relocate.
For local cities, however, it will mean less in personal property taxes to collect next year. And it’s coming at a time when other revenues – everything from real estate tax to food and beverage taxes – are shrinking.
A Plan in Need of Clarity
By: Senator Jim Webb
December 4, 2009
I have great regard for the careful process the Obama administration employed in its efforts to define a new approach for the long-standing military commitment in Afghanistan and to put an operational framework in place for our responsible withdrawal. I intend, nevertheless, to continue to call on the administration to clarify to the American public and Congress how it defines success and how we reach an end point.
…
On the personnel front, our active-duty military has been deployed repeatedly for combat operations since 2001. Guard and reserve components also have deployed at levels not envisioned when the all-volunteer force was introduced. We are in uncharted territory in terms of the long-term effects these deployments are having on the well-being of our men and women in uniform, especially the Army and Marine Corps. I introduced dwell-time legislation nearly three years ago to ensure that we achieved a better balance in deployment cycles with a minimum interval before follow-on deployments. The new commitment of some 30,000 U.S. troops will put additional strains on our forces and their families. I plan to press the administration on this point to ensure that we are more vigilant in safeguarding the welfare of our men and women in uniform.
Bill Benefiting Federal Employees Passes House & Awaits Obama’s Signature
Bill Changes FERS Sick Leave & Redeposit, CSRS Annuity Calculations, Ends NSPS for DoD Workers, Changes for Military Service Members and Families
WASHINGTON – Calling it a “long-overdue major victory for our dedicated federal employees, retirees, military personnel and their families,” Congressman Gerry Connolly cheered final passage of the defense authorization bill in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday. The bill now goes to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law.
Connolly said the massive defense bill contains a number of positive changes in laws affecting federal employees’ sick leave, annuity calculations, redeposit provisions for employees returning to the federal workforce, and stronger whistleblower protections. The legislation also eliminates the National Security Personnel System for Department of Defense employees and provides a number of improvements in health care and housing programs for military service members and their families.
Connolly, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce that championed many of the new improvements in federal employee benefits and passed them in early March, praised the cooperative efforts of Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, Subcommittee Chairman Stephen Lynch, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Congressmen Jim Moran and Chris Van Hollen to get the federal employee provisions included in the bill.
“This is a case of try and try again until you succeed,” Connolly said. “We added these provisions for federal employees and retirees into the tobacco reform bill passed by the House, only to see them stripped out by the Senate. So we added them again, this time to the defense authorization bill passed by the House, and the Senate removed them again. However, this time the House was able to prevail on these issues and keep them in the final bill. It is a significant victory that will provide long-overdue benefits for our federal workforce, our retirees, and our military.”
Connolly said the provisions in the bill benefiting federal employees and retirees also make important changes to the federal retirement system that will enhance the retirement systems efficiency and effectiveness as a recruiting and management tool at a time when the government needs to be attracting the best and the brightest to the federal workforce.
Connolly said the legislation includes the following provisions:
Federal employees and retirees:
· FERS Sick Leave – Allows employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to receive credit for unused sick leave toward their retirement annuity, as is currently the case for employees covered by the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). This provision also reduces the incentive for employees to use excess sick leave as they approach retirement. OPM estimates the current “use it or lose it” system results in $68 million in lost productivity each year.
· FERS Redeposit – This provision, sponsored by Connolly, allows returning federal employees, who previously left federal service, to repay a deposit to the civil service trust fund, with interest, in order to be able to combine their past and new federal service for future annuity service.
· CSRS Part-time Service – Allows CSRS workers to phase-down to part-time status at the end of their careers without reducing their final pensions.
· NSPS – Terminates the Department of Defense’s pay-for-performance personnel system, universally-hated by DoD employees, and restore employees to the federal General Schedule (GS) pay system.
· Ensures that these provisions are PAYGO neutral, resulting in approximately $258 million in deficit reduction over 10 years.
Military service members and families:
· Provides a 3.4 percent military pay raise
· Expands TRICARE health coverage for reserve component members and their families for 180 days prior to mobilization
· Prohibits fee increases on TRICARE inpatient care for one year
· Provides $2.2 billion for family housing programs
· Adds $276 million to support the Housing Assistance Program that helps service members forced to sell their homes at a significant loss
· Provides travel and transportation for three designated persons, including non-family members, to visit hospitalized service members
· Enables seriously injured service members to use a non-medical attendant for help with daily living or during travel for medical treatment
· Provides $30 million for Impact Aid funding, with an additional $14 million for BRAC-affected areas like Northern Virginia and an additional $5 million for military children with severe disabilities
· Establishes an internship pilot program within federal agencies for military spouses and directs DOD to establish an undergraduate nurse training program to help alleviate the shortage of military nurses
Connolly said the legislation contains many other provisions affecting national defense issue.