Donnelly prompts Defense Department to alter childcare fees assistance policy

U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, who has constituents in Jackson and Pine townships, has announced that the Department of Defense has changed its childcare benefits to cover more Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) personnel, after Donnelly made an inquiry to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on behalf of a Mishawaka constituent.

“I am very pleased the Department of Defense corrected the disparity in its childcare benefits policy,” Donnelly said in a statement released on Monday. “This policy change means that certain Guardsmen and Reservists now will receive childcare benefits that were previously denied to them.”

AGR personnel are members of the National Guard and Reservists who work full-time organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, or training Guardsmen and Reservists. Army Reserve AGRs fall under the president’s authority under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, while National Guard AGRs fall under Title 32 of the U.S. Code and are under the authority of their respective governors unless called up for federal duty by the president.

As the policy stood, childcare fee assistance was available to those in the AGR program serving in a Title 10 status but not to those serving in a Title 32 status, the statement said.

As a result of this disparity, Mishawaka resident Brendan Wilczynski contacted Donnelly. As a full-time Indiana Army National Guard Title 32 AGR, he works daily to prepare soldiers before their deployment to Iraq but as a Title 32 AGR he was not eligible to receive childcare fee assistance.

Donnelly wrote to Gates, asking him to review the Department of Defense’s childcare benefits policies, and two months later was informed that Title 32 AGR are in fact eligible for childcare subsidy benefits.

“When my son Wyatt was born, my wife had to leave her job as a teacher to take care of him, putting a large financial strain on my family due to the lost income,” Wilczynski said. “This policy change will benefit not only my family, but other families like mine in my Guard unit and thousands across the country. I would like to thank Congressman Donnelly for his work on this issue and his dedication to the men and women in the Army Forces.”

Posted 3/11/2008