Castro, Van Hollen, Booker Lead House and Senate Democrats in Push to Protect Military, National Security Families from Forced Attrition
WASHINGTON – This week, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Senator Cory Booker (NJ) led House and Senate Democrats in a letter asking the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to explicitly exempt military and national security families from the Trump administration’s new restrictions on telework and remote work for federal employees.
Spousal employment challenges are a major cause of forced attrition in both the military and the national security community. While OPM has issued limited guidance exempting military spouses from the termination of remote work opportunities, advocates for these families have expressed frustration about the lack of clarity surrounding full implementation of this exception. Additionally, OPM has not announced exemptions for the families of other national security professionals, such as those in the State Department and the intelligence community.
“We write to express our deep concerns about the unintended consequences of the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) January 22, 2025, implementation guidance regarding a recent Presidential Memorandum on remote and telework arrangements for federal employees. The broad implementation overlooks the economic security and well-being of America’s military families, diplomatic spouses, and other national security professionals who are stationed away from home in service of the U.S. government. The impacted personnel are less than one percent of the federal workforce, but their ability to work from their families’ duty stations for limited periods of time (typically 2-3 years) is essential to recruitment for hard-to-fill assignments, family unity, and retention of their valuable experience and contributions to national security. We urge you to revise OPM’s guidance to explicitly exempt the small number of affected spouses and dependents and avoid attrition issues that could negatively impact American military readiness and national security, “the lawmakers wrote.
“It is commonly said that when one person joins the military, the whole family serves. This maxim is no less true for diplomats, intelligence professionals, federal law enforcement officers, and other national security professionals who are routinely required to relocate to postings across the world. As a result of these relocations, spouses and dependents often struggle to find consistent employment, creating personal and financial strains that have been cited as a major cause of attrition,” the lawmakers continued.
Castro, Van Hollen, and Booker are senior members of the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over foreign affairs and international relations. Additional members joining the letter include Senator Tim Kaine (VA), Senator Ruben Gallego (AZ), Senator Mazie K. Hirono (HI), Senator Raphael Warnock (GA), Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08), Congressman Johnny Olszewski, Jr. (MD-02), Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Congressman Jonathan L. Jackson (IL-01), and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (CA-51).
Congressman Castro represents San Antonio, Texas, which is home to one of the largest active-duty and retired military communities in the United States. As part of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), he voted to pass the Military Spouse Employment Act, a bipartisan bill that provided federal agencies with clear authorities to hire military spouses for remote positions. As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Castro has secured the enactment of several bills designed to protect employment opportunities for national security families, including:
- The Foreign Service Families Act of 2021, which expands work opportunities for spouses of diplomats to telework from abroad, extends additional benefits to Foreign Service to create parity with military servicemembers, and requires public universities to provide in-state tuition to qualifying family members of US diplomats.
Introduced by Congressman Castro, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Senator Van Hollen (MD), and Senator Dan Sullivan (AK) and enacted as Title LXII of the FY22 NDAA.
- The Civil Service Federal Employee Serving Overseas Pay Equity Act, which allows members of the Civil Service who are teleworking from outside the United States (typically spouses of US service members, diplomats, or intelligence community professionals) to earn locality pay or a cost-of-living adjustment for the costs of living overseas. This can be up to a 35% increase in pay for such individuals and supports military, diplomat, and intelligence community families and helps with the retention of such professionals.
Authored by Congressman Castro and Senator Van Hollen and enacted as Section 9717 of the FY2023 NDAA.
- The Intelligence Community Families Act, which requires the family members of US intelligence community professionals to be eligible for in-state tuition at US public universities in states where the families are domiciled when serving abroad.
Introduced by Congressman Castro and Congressman Fitzpatrick and enacted as Section 7316 of the FY2024 NDAA.
- The Foreign Service Families Improvements Act builds on the Foreign Service Families Act of 2021 by
- Requiring State/Local governments and licensing bodies to respect the professional licenses of members of the Foreign Service or their spouses if that individual moves jurisdictions as a consequence of an assignment or detail
- Modifying the Foreign Service Families Act of 2021 to extend applicability to members of the Foreign Service/family members that relocate internally within the United States.
Introduced by Congressman Castro and Senator Ben Cardin (MD) and included as Section 7104 and 7110 of the FY2025 NDAA.