Barack Obama: Obama, McCaskill Statement on Military Family Job Protection

September 18, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) today submitted the following testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing on job protection for military families.

Below is a statement by Senator Obama and Senator McCaskill:

“Madam Chairman, thank you for providing us with the opportunity to present testimony today to the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee. We are grateful that the committee has chosen to examine the fundamental question of how we can best provide the care and support our veterans and military families deserve.

“Since the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan began, our service members have performed bravely and brilliantly, and they have done everything we have asked of them. Our military families have also made incredible sacrifices. Waiting and praying, they manage the stress and uncertainty of long, repeated deployments. And when their loved ones return home, they are there to help them heal from the physical – and sometimes less visible – wounds of war.

“Given these sacrifices, and given that three out of every five deployed service members have family responsibilities at home, Congress must ask if we are truly meeting our commitment to our military families. Providing our service members and their families with the care and compassion they deserve is the very least we owe these heroes.

“The unacceptable shortcomings in care at Walter Reed highlighted the fact that our nation has not always matched words with action when it comes to caring for our service members, veterans and their families. Anyone who has taken the time to visit Walter Reed, as we have, has met spouses who don’t view visiting hours as a part-time job. Day after day, these family members help their wounded loved ones persevere through what is often a lengthy and painful rehabilitation process.

“We must show our veterans and military families that we will help them with the basics, including access to health care, counseling and vocational training – all measures from our Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act that the Senate adopted this summer. But we must also focus on their job security. When America’s sons and daughters are injured overseas and they return home to begin their recovery, their families should not be forced to choose between caring for a wounded family member and keeping their jobs.

“That’s why in February we first proposed the idea of extending job protections for our military families. Our Military Family Job Protection Act (S. 1885) would provide family members with up to one year of protected leave to care for a wounded loved one. Our approach also calls on the Secretary of Defense to consult with the Labor Department and develop a certification process that minimizes the administrative burden and helps free our military families from a web of red tape and bureaucratic delay.

“Our bill provides 12 months of job protection, which we believe is the necessary amount of time to help family members caring for a wounded service member. In addition, the protections we propose would be provided through channels similar to those utilized to provide job protections for reserve component military service members called to serve on active duty. In many ways, the family members we are trying to assist are similar to military service members being called to active duty. Just as we protect activated service members for the duration of their combat tour, we must seek to protect family members for the duration of their tour of duty caring for their wounded loved ones.

“Our proposal has bipartisan support and has been endorsed by Veterans for America. We urge our colleagues in Congress to support this common-sense solution and send the Military Family Job Protection Act to the president for his signature.

“Madam Chairman, thank you again for inviting us to offer this testimony.”

Source: Senator Barack Obama

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