WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump was expected to sign an executive order Monday creating a White House Military Spouse Commission charged with advising the Administration on policies affecting military families, including childcare, employment, housing, healthcare and education, according to Fox News.
The Administration said the commission is intended to improve quality of life for military families while strengthening military readiness.
According to Fox News, the commission will be chaired by Jennifer Hegseth, wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and will include Christie Mullin, wife of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, along with 20 military spouses representing the military services, Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior enlisted leadership. Trump is expected to appoint an executive director.
"Military spouses are the bedrock of our Armed Forces' readiness and resilience," Jennifer Hegseth told Fox News. "They are often overlooked but we see them and want them to know help is on the way." She said the commission will work to remove barriers facing military families and pledged they "have a champion in the White House with President Trump."
Financial Readiness Is Military Readiness
The Defense Credit Union Council reacted to the news, stating it strongly supports the Military Spouse Commission and Trump’s recognition that the strength of America’s military depends upon the strength, stability, and well-being of the families who serve alongside our men and women in uniform.
“The Commission’s charge to advise the President on policies affecting military spouses and families and to provide annual recommendations that improve their quality of life while strengthening military readiness represents an important commitment to those who share in the sacrifices of military service,” said DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak. “As the Commission begins its work, DCUC respectfully urges it to make financial readiness an explicit and permanent pillar of its mission. Housing, spouse employment, childcare, healthcare, education, and frequent relocations are not isolated challenges. Each has a direct and substantial effect on the financial stability of military families.”
Anthony Hernandez
“Military spouses are not peripheral to military service. They are indispensable mission partners,” said Anthony Hernandez, DCUC president and CEO and a retired United States Air Force colonel. “Their strength and resilience sustain military households through deployments, permanent changes of station, overseas assignments, family separations, and the constant demands of military life. President Trump’s creation of this Commission appropriately recognizes that their experiences must help shape the policies intended to support them.
“The Commission has an opportunity to produce meaningful reforms that improve the lives of military families while strengthening the readiness, resilience, and retention of the force,” Hernandez continued. “That work must include financial readiness from the beginning.”
“Financial readiness is military readiness,” Hernandez addded. “A servicemember who is worried about whether the family can afford housing, absorb the loss of a spouse’s income, pay for childcare, recover from fraud, or access responsible credit cannot give the mission their undivided attention. Financial stress does not remain at home. It follows the servicemember to the flight line, the watch floor, the motor pool, and the battlefield.”
Jason Stverak
Stverak pointed out DCUC member credit unions serve military installations and communities throughout the United States and around the world.
“They support servicemembers, military spouses, Guard and Reserve families, veterans, retirees, civilian personnel, and the communities they call home during deployments, relocations, overseas assignments, government funding disruptions, natural disasters, and other periods of uncertainty,” he told CUToday.info. “DCUC stands ready to participate in the Commission’s work on behalf of our member credit unions and the military and community members they serve. We would welcome the opportunity to provide frontline perspectives, policy expertise, data, and practical recommendations concerning financial education, affordable and responsible credit, fraud prevention, emergency assistance, military spouse entrepreneurship, homeownership, savings, and long-term family financial security.”
By placing financial readiness alongside housing, employment, healthcare, education, and childcare—and by including defense credit unions at the table—the President’s Military Spouse Commission can develop meaningful recommendations that strengthen military families and enhance the readiness of America’s Armed Forces, stated Stverak.
“Military spouses serve our country in ways that are too often unseen,” he added. “DCUC and its member credit unions are prepared to help ensure their financial needs, experiences, and voices are fully represented in this important work.”