On Friday, President Joe Biden will sign an executive order aimed at expanding opportunities for military and veteran spouses while visiting North Carolina, a state expected to be a battleground in the 2024 presidential race — one that the Democratic president is targeting in his reelection bid.
The president and first lady Jill Biden stopped at a community college in Rocky Mount Friday afternoon. Next, they head to Fort Liberty, the military base formerly known as Fort Bragg, where the president is expected to discuss the executive order.
The order includes nearly 20 actions seeking to improve economic and employment opportunities for military and veteran families, caregivers and survivors, including requiring federal agencies to develop a government-wide strategic plan to bolster recruitment, hiring and retention; expand access to childcare; develop annual training programs for federal agency human resources personnel on employment of military and veteran spouses; and more.
“What this executive order is going to do is make it more incumbent upon federal agencies to actively recruit and be able to retain spouses of military and veteran members, as well as making it easier for them to keep those jobs long term as they move from duty station to duty station,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with Spectrum News.
Kirby said there is about 16,000 military spouses in the Federal workforce, adding “it has historically been difficult for them to not only get recruited and acquire employment, but to be able to keep that employment.”
At Fort Liberty, the Bidens are expected to meet with service members and their families at an event for Joining Forces, the first lady’s initiative to support these communities.
Fort Bragg shed its name last week to become Fort Liberty, part of a broad Department of Defense initiative to rename military installations that had been named after confederate soldiers.
The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall.
Kirby told Spectrum News that Fort Liberty is one of the most important military bases in the country.
“It’s a significant Army base that has a dramatic impact on our Army’s readiness and our Army’s capabilities,” he said. “And so, for all those reasons, it was the right place to go.”
Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday that the base is home to the largest military spouse population.
In Rocky Mount, the Bidens toured a classroom and met with students at Nash Community College, which is part of a coalition that received $23.7 million to train students for clean energy jobs from Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
The pair then delivered remarks on Biden’s career-connected learning and workforce training efforts, which seek to bridge the gap between education, workforce programs and quality jobs.
Biden said the job training effort is part of a strategy to “make us once again the most competitive nation in the world.”
“Joe [Biden] understands that for most people, a high school diploma alone isn’t enough to find a great career,” the first lady said Friday. “But that doesn’t mean that there is only one path to success, and that is why he is bringing together our entire government to bridge the gap between learning and earning.”
The Biden administration has put an emphasis on funding programs that help prepare workers for jobs that require some post-secondary education but not necessarily a four-year degree. The first lady noted Friday that students can take college courses in high school, enroll in registered apprenticeships and find jobs with associate degrees.
“A lot of these programs aren’t new, but here’s what is: jobs,” the first lady said. “Through the Biden Administration’s investing in America agenda, we are strengthening our nation’s infrastructure and creating millions of jobs in growing industries like clean energy and manufacturing.”
“You can’t have advanced manufacturing without a highly trained workforce,” Biden said. “That’s where you all come in.”
At the end of his remarks in Rocky Mount, Biden said to the Democratic Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, “thank you for what you put together in this state. I think you are the best governor in the country, but thank you.”
The Biden campaign previously named Gov. Cooper to its national advisory board for the 2024 election.
Members of Biden’s administration have been traveling the country since March, highlighting the impact of the president’s work over his first two years in office. The White House announced Tuesday it is doubling down on that effort, sending officials back on the road this summer during Congress’ recess around the 4th of July.
Biden spoke about the impacts of his bipartisan infrastructure law, CHIPS and Science Act and American Rescue Plan in North Carolina in March. Despite losing the state in 2020, Biden is targeting North Carolina in 2024, as he seeks a second term in the White House.
The Republican Party’s top presidential contenders are gathering over the weekend to address delegates at the state convention in Greensboro, less than 100 miles from Biden’s stop at Fort Liberty. On Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is headlining a dinner, fresh off his campaign tour to a trio of early voting states. On Saturday, former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump, the current GOP front-runner, will speak to delegates in separate appearances.
