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Trump Hiring Freeze Leaves Some Army Families Without On-Base Daycare

By Cory Allen Heidelberger on 2017-02-21

Senator Joni Ernst caught heck at a public meeting in Iowa today when she hemmed and hawed in response to a question from a veteran about whether she has ever voted to cut funding for veterans.

If you voted for Donald Trump, you voted to cut services for active-duty soldiers and their kids:

A federal civilian hiring freeze ordered by President Donald Trump has forced at least two Army bases to indefinitely suspend some child care programs.

Officials at Fort Knox, Kentucky, notified families Feb. 17 of the suspension to the on-base part-day child development center (CDC) programs, its hourly care program and the enrollment of new families into the CDC.

“Effective immediately, no new children will be enrolled in the CDC,” states the letter, signed by Fort Knox garrison commander Col. Stephen Aiton. “Also, effective 27 February 2017, the CDC will no longer accommodate childcare for our hourly care and part day families until further notice.”

The CDC’s part-day programs include its part-day preschools. Many military families, including some CDC workers, rely on hourly care for child care during part-time jobs or school hours, or when the full-time day care program is full. One Army spouse at Fort Knox reported that the wait list for her 1-year-old is estimated through July [Amy Bushatz, “Federal Hiring Freeze Suspends Some Army Child Care Programs,” Military.com, 2017.02.21].

Here’s the letter announcing the closure of Child and Youth Services at the U.S. Army Garrison in Wiesbaden, Germany:

Kind of hard to do your job if the base closes your best daycare option.

“Support the Troops!”—that’s more than a slogan, Donald; it’s now your job.

Published in national

9 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2017-02-22 06:46

    Ivanna Kuturnutzov cuts (and runs) again. Gutless coward!

  2. Porter Lansing 2017-02-22 12:22

    Trump reminds us of Louis XV who succeeded the Sun King and drove France to an era of “debilitating stagnation”. Our President’s family has spent more on travel and entertainment in a month than President Obama spent in an average year. He cuts money to the commoners and increases his own annuity.

  3. Francis Schaffer 2017-02-23 07:06

    Cory
    So if you voted for President Obama, you voted to raise health insurance rates? Similar logic to your statement about voting for Trump means you voted to cut service to active duty soldiers. I put this situation into the category of unintended consequences of a decision. Also it seems one thing which could have been done is the base commander issue an order that military personnel provide the daycare services.

  4. Darin Larson 2017-02-23 08:03

    Francis Schaffer, you used the phrase “unintended consequences.” Isn’t that the whole point? Trump doesn’t think about the unintended consequences in his rush to implement his knee-jerk policies without proper consideration of all factors. The roll out of the travel ban is another example.

  5. Francis Schaffer 2017-02-23 18:00

    Darin,
    My point is none our elected officials really think anything through very well and by casting a vote for a candidate does not make the voter responsible for the actions of the elected.

  6. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-02-26 22:14

    Francis, yes, I’ll accept that. I voted for Obama. I voted for the ACA. I thus bear responsibility for the consequences of the ACA (although some of those consequences come from GOP sabotage, for which I am not responsible!).

    But remember: while premiums are higher, they appear not to have risen as fast as they were predicted to rise before the ACA. in both this universe and the universe that elected John McCain in 2008, we have higher insurance premiums. But premiums are lower here in Obama universe than in McCain universe. Plus, we have far fewer uninsured Americans and several other advantages.

    I’m happy to own the consequences of the ACA seven years out. Will Donald Trump and his voters now take ownership of the consequences of his hiring freeze on military families?

  7. Porter Lansing 2017-02-26 22:33

    Excellent , Cory. Something had to be done. Insurance premium increases were out of control. Things are much better than what was predicted without ACA. We’ll see how it is when REPEAL OBAMACARE is complete. Payback’s a bitch, Republicans.

  8. bearcreekbat 2017-02-27 10:17

    Cory, your comment

    in both this universe and the universe that elected John McCain in 2008

    reminds us of the possibility of alternate universes. Here is an alternative universe in which Hillary won the presidency by 3 million votes:
    http://www.hillarybeattrump.org/

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