Military Leaders Agree with Warren: Effectively Delivering Child Care, Education Benefits to Service Members Is Vital for National Security
Round 1 Exchanges (YouTube) | Round 2 Exchanges (YouTube)
Washington, D.C. – At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee, U.S. Senator Warren, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, asked military leaders about their work to improve wages for staff at military child care centers and protect education programs for servicemembers.
A 2023 DoD task force found that the best way to improve the shortage of child care workers at military Child Development Centers (CDCs) was to raise the workers’ wages. As a result, Congress tasked DoD with redesigning the compensation model. Senator Warren pressed personnel leaders of the branches about when they plan to release and implement the reworked model. All leaders said they would follow up later.
“We don’t say to our military families, ‘Here’s this really hard job,’ and then not give them the support that they need to be able to carry it out…My job is to keep turning up the heat until we actually get this done and pay them better,” said Senator Warren.
Senator Warren also highlighted how recent cuts to the civilian workforce at DoD make life harder for military families and pointed to the recent closure of a CDC in Utah due to workforce reductions. All of the leaders agreed that cuts that affect child care affect military readiness.
In her second round of questioning, Senator Warren brought up the government’s shortcomings on delivering education benefits to servicemembers, specifically its failure to deliver on statutorily-promised student debt relief and leaving servicemembers vulnerable to predatory actors.
All of the witnesses agreed that leaving servicemembers vulnerable to predatory schools and lenders hurts the military’s recruitment and retention efforts. All of the military leaders also agreed that DOD must do everything possible to deliver debt cancellation under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, as is statutorily required by Congress.
Senator Warren has submitted proposals for the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act to address these issues. Her proposals require DOD to provide quarterly updates on its work to implement a statutorily required data match to make it easier for servicemembers to get access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; require the Government Accountability Office to analyze the challenges servicemembers face with student loan debt repayment; and to require the Pentagon to use the same procedures as the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs to more diligently monitor fraud, waste, and abuse at schools that receive more than $600 million in servicemember tuition assistance each year.
Transcript: Opening Statement at Hearing to receive testimony on Department of Defense personnel policies and programs in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2026 and the Future Years Defense Program
Senate Armed Services Committee
April 9, 2025
Round 1: Child Care
Senator Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, every parent in this country understands how hard it is to find high quality, affordable, available child care. And for our military families, the task can be just whole orders of magnitude harder. Often they have to navigate finding child care while they’re on long deployments, abrupt relocations, and nonstandard work hours. And if military families can’t find child care, they just may not be able to serve.
I appreciate that at least two of you specifically mention child care when we talk about our servicemembers and our force readiness. DOD knows how important child care is—and that is why it runs the nation’s largest employer-based child care system. It’s high quality and affordable, but right now, it is facing a huge shortage of child care workers, which means fewer child care slots and literally thousands of families on waitlists.
In 2023, a DOD task force investigated the staffing shortages and confirmed that, in order to fix this problem, we need to increase child care workers’ wages. So in last year’s NDAA, we tasked DOD with redesigning the compensation model, and starting to implement it by April 1st. But here we are a year later, and you haven’t even finalized the redesign—much less begun implementation that was supposed to have started – what was it, 8 days ago?
So for each witness, I want to ask: When can we expect to see the updated compensation model and when can we expect to see implementation begin?
Lieutenant General Eifler, let’s start with you. And I’ll be writing these down. So what’s the date?
Lieutenant General Brian S. Eifler, U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel: Thanks, Ranking Member. Yeah, so I am not clear on that date because I know – I believe all the services are working with the Department of Defense on finalizing that. I do believe the CR has some impacts because of funding for it –
Senator Warren: No, I’m sorry. The CR has impacts on your implementation. It does not have an impact on your obligation to update your compensation model. You’re supposed to do the modeling with the money you got. So when can I expect to see your updated model?
Lieutenant General Eifler: I would have to follow up with you, Senator, because I am not clear on when that’s going to be in place.
Senator Warren: Okay, well I hope you’re clear that you’re already way past due.
Lieutenant General Eifler: Yes, yes, Senator.
Senator Warren: Alright. Vice Admiral Cheeseman, what about you? What’s the date?
Vice Admiral Richard J. Cheeseman, Jr., U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Personnel: Senator, similar answer. We’re working with our OSD partners on when that date would be. And when I have a more informed answer, I’ll get back with you, ma’am.
Senator Warren: Yeah, well, I’d like to have an answer that suggests that you guys are paying attention to this. We didn’t put this in the law just for the fun of it. It wasn’t advisory. It was for you to actually perform by a date certain.
Lieutenant General Borgschulte?
Lieutenant General Michael J. Borgschulte, U.S. Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs: Senator Warren, thank you very much for bringing this up. This is personal to me. I’ve got kids. I’ve got a spouse that has a career, and we have used our world class child care at every duty station.
Senator Warren: Good for you. So when?
Lieutenant General Borgschulte: And so, I’ll get back – we have increased the wages. I’ll get back to you with a specific date, but we have over 40,000 kids in our child and youth programs. I mean think about that. That’s a retention effort and that allows them to be free to go fight. I just appreciate you bringing that up.
Senator Warren: Okay, so you said many nice things and the fact that you’ve actually moved toward increasing wages puts you a step ahead of the other two people to your right.
Lieutenant General Borgschulte: We’ll take that, Senator. I’ll get you back an exact answer on that.
Senator Warren: I’ve got to have this done. Okay? Gotta have this done.
Lieutenant General Miller?
Lieutenant General Caroline M. Miller, U.S. Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower: Yes, ma’am. We’ve actually increased our wages 18 –
Senator Warren: Also good. How about your plan?
Lieutenant General Miller: We have a plan. I can get it over to you, ma’am.
Senator Warren: Oh great. You actually have it? We weren’t able to find it, so I am delighted.
Lieutenant General Miller: I will send over what we have done over the last year, which has been quite significant –
Senator Warren: Okay, it’s an updated compensation model, is what you’re required to do under the law. Okay? And then start implementing that model. So thank you, I hope that’s right, Lieutenant General Miller.
Ms. Kelley?
Ms. Katharine Kelley, U.S. Space Force Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Human Capital: Senator, we leverage the Air Force for our CDCs so the model that General Miller is referencing would be applicable for Guardians as well.
Senator Warren: So you’re sending it back in the other direction. Yours will be ready when his is ready?
Ms. Kelley: No, ma’am. General Miller.
Senator Warren: Oh, I’m sorry. I was taking you to the other end, I apologize.
Ms. Kelley: The Air Force runs the Child Development Centers that the Space Force Guardians leverage, so the adjusted salaries that the Air Force has to include the fee assistance programs that are unbelievably helpful for our CDC workers. We’ve seen significant improvement.
Senator Warren: You know, I just want to say on this: I understand that I am unpleasant about this and then tend to be even more unpleasant if this doesn’t get done. You all fully understand why this is so important. And so important anytime. We don’t say to our military families, “Here’s this really hard job,” and then not give them the support that they need to be able to carry it out.
So I appreciate that you all seem to understand that. My job is to keep turning up the heat until we actually get this done and pay them better.
Let me bring out just one more, of course. This is all about making sure we have the staff needed to bring down military child care waitlists. But of course, that’s not going to happen if we’re slashing the civilian workforce. Two weeks ago, a Child Development Center in Utah closed because of cuts to its civilian staff.
So let me just ask: do you agree that cutting child care by laying off civilian child care workers makes life harder for military families?
Ms. Kelley, we’ll start at your end this time.
Ms. Kelley: Senator, I absolutely agree that lack of child care is a readiness issue for all the services and certainly for the Space Force.
Senator Warren: Good. General Miller?
Lieutenant General Miller: Yes, ma’am. It is a readiness issue.
Senator Warren: Thank you. General Borgschulte?
Lieutenant General Borgschulte: Senator Warren, I agree 100%. We have not shut any down and don’t plan to.
Senator Warren: I hope that’s right, but it really is the reminder that these civilian cuts can have profound effects for our active duty servicemembers.
Vice Admiral Cheeseman?
Vice Admiral Cheeseman: Senator, thanks for the question. For our child care employees, they are funded out of non-appropriated funds. We have not let anybody go. In fact, our staffing levels have increased by 10% over the last year and we’ve decreased the waitlist by about 1,000 spots.
Senator Warren: That is really terrific to hear. Thank you very much and I appreciate your getting that on the record.
General Eifler?
Lieutenant General Eifler: Yes, Ranking Member, totally concur. We have not shut down any and we do believe it’s a readiness issue because of that.
Senator Warren: Good. I appreciate that. And now, in the name of the Chair, I call on Ms. Hirono.
Round 2: Education
Senator Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, when Congress passed the G.I. Bill in 1944, a grateful nation promised to help servicemembers with the cost of their education. This was a thank you for the sacrifices to our country. The promise is not charity; it is an ironclad commitment and it is key to how we recruit and maintain a fighting force. Survey after survey has demonstrated how important this promise is, both for recruitment and to retention. And I see you are nodding along with this.
Too often, the federal government has failed to live up to our promise. Not delivering on the student debt relief that servicemembers were entitled to, or leaving them vulnerable to predatory lenders. For example, after student loan repayments restarted after the pandemic, the CFPB found servicemember complaints about student loan servicers went up, thanks to hours-long hold times and other customer service failures with the companies that were managing their loans. Meanwhile, the V.A. has warned about the rise of scams where predatory schools will promise "immediate student debt cancellation" that doesn't really exist in order to lure veterans into enrolling.
Again, I would like to go down the line, if we can, with our witnesses for this question. Just yes or no. Does it undermine our ability to recruit and retain personnel when we let bad actors scam our servicemembers out of the educational benefits that they have earned and been promised by the United States government?
Lieutenant General Eifler, if I can start with you.
Lieutenant General Eifler: Yes, Ranking Member.
Senator Warren: Vice Admiral Cheeseman?
Vice Admiral Cheeseman: Senator, yes ma’am. Absolutely.
Senator Warren: Lieutenant General Borgschulte?
Lieutenant General Borgschulte: Yes ma’am, absolutely. Our Marines should not be scammed.
Senator Warren: Lieutenant General Miller?
Lieutenant General Miller: Yes ma'am.
Senator Warren: And Ms. Kelley?
Ms. Kelley: Yes ma'am, absolutely.
Senator Warren: That is the reason that I have proposed language in this year’s NDAA to protect servicemembers from predatory actors. This committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion before to ensure that servicemembers get the educational benefits that they have earned under a bipartisan law signed by President George W. Bush back in 2007. The federal government will cancel the student loans of people who work in the public service and faithfully pay their loans for at least a decade as a way to honor their public service. Last year, Senator Cortez Masto and Senator Moran led a successful effort to require DOD and the Education Department to perform a data match so all eligible servicemembers automatically receive the public service loan forgiveness that the law says that they have earned.
So, once again, I want to go down the line with our witnesses. Is it important that DOD do everything it can to deliver debt cancellation under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to all eligible servicemembers as statutorily required by Congress?
Lieutenant General Eifler?
Lieutenant General Eifler: Yes, Ranking Member.
Senator Warren: Vice Admiral Cheeseman?
Vice Admiral Cheeseman: Yes ma'am.
Senator Warren: Lieutenant General Borgschulte?
Lieutenant General Borgschulte: Yes ma'am.
Senator Warren: Lieutenant General Miller?
Lieutenant General Miller: Yes, Senator Warren.
Senator Warren: And Ms. Kelley?
Ms. Kelley: Yes ma'am, absolutely.
Senator Warren: Okay, good, we are in a good place. Once again, though, this is work that remains unfinished. I have submitted an NDAA proposal requiring DOD to provide quarterly updates until the Public Service Loan Forgiveness data match is implemented, and also requiring the GAO to analyze the challenges servicemembers face with student loan debt repayment. I have also submitted a proposal to require DOD implement the same risk-based surveys the VA is already statutorily required to use to monitor fraud, and waste, and abuse at schools that receive more than $600 million in servicemember tuition assistance each year.
These are programs that matter to our servicemembers. And I appreciate having all of you as allies to make sure our servicemembers get what the American people promised them. So thank you very much and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for letting me do this.
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