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Floor Speech
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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to sound the alarm--to make my colleagues aware--of the crisis that faces us. It challenges all veterans. It faces the United States of America because of the chaos and confusion that continues at the Veterans Health Administration and the sliding downward of service that is available to our Nation's heroes.
On Monday, VA Secretary Doug Collins announced that he would be abandoning his disastrous plan to fire 83,000 VA employees, and the reason is pretty simple: The Trump administration is set to lose 30,000 employees at the end of the year. That number is incredibly worrisome. It is a significant number. The VA typically has a net gain of 10,000 VA employees every year. Yet, this year, it stands to lose more than 30,000 of its workforce, despite serving more veterans than ever before--significantly more--because of the PACT Act.
So, at a time when the VA already has 40,000 vacancies in veterans' healthcare, this administration ought to be focused on hiring more employees, not touting how its employees are abandoning the VA--fleeing a toxic work environment and a demoralizing work environment. They are fleeing the VA because of a failed and failing leadership.
Now, the reason why the VA Secretary has abandoned this plan to fire 83,000 people is, essentially, unexplained. There is no transparency. He has denied us information about who would have been fired. He has refused to provide information about the 30,000 individual workers who are leaving and what positions they hold.
But here is what we know for sure. Only because of the blistering backlash of veterans themselves, the veterans service organizations that represent them, Members of Congress like myself, and the public, is he, in fact, abandoning this cruel and stupid plan, which has never been explained. He is abandoning it because of the protests of veterans and VSOs who spoke out. And I thank them. I am here to say ``thank you'' to the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the DVA, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans--I could go through the entire list. And to all the veterans posts and organizations, thank you for helping to save those jobs and those workers who would have been fired--by the way, a third of them veterans themselves.
But this 30,000 number is no cause for relief or complacency. In fact, it is unconscionable because it will undercut veterans' care and benefits. We have already seen some of the impacts of this haphazard effort to force hard-working public servants out of the VA because of a toxic work environment created by this administration and DOGE's slash- and-trash policy.
VA nurses across the country are having to perform mandatory overtime. Lifesaving clinical trials have been canceled. Veterans are being directed to call the Veterans Crisis Line instead of regular appointments as mental health providers leave the VA in droves.
This announcement by the VA Secretary makes clear that the VA, essentially, is bleeding employees across the board. And the loss of key people includes clinical staff: doctors, nurses. There are already 40,000 vacancies. How can the VA possibly recruit talented, skilled, dedicated employees when they know they will be fired at any moment?
We know that a lot of the people leaving or declining jobs at the VA because of this chaos are, in fact, the professionals who deliver medical care--like doctors and nurses--to veterans. These positions are already facing shortages, especially in rural areas. How will rural veterans fare between the bleeding out of the VA employees when many rural hospitals are now set to shutter their doors under the President's ``Big Beautiful Betrayal,'' the bill he just signed into law?
Make no mistake, this attrition is not natural. It is not natural attrition to lose 30,000 employees when the ordinary rate is to hire 10,000 per year. It is a reduction in force. You can call it what you will, but it is essentially a purposeful and intentional reduction in the workers necessary to provide medical care and benefits to veterans. It is shameful to ruin a great institution. And veterans' healthcare has provided world-class, gold-standard care to countless heroes across the country. This administration is decimating that institution.
American veterans deserve nothing less than for every single Member of this body to call out and challenge these damaging policies--not applaud them as some measure of success or even to sanction them by our silence. We need to speak out, stand up for our veterans. Now is the time, before the damage escalates and becomes more serious.
I am absolutely anguished and furious about these cuts, which not only destroy an institution but endanger our veterans who want to go to VA clinics and hospitals like the ones we have in Connecticut in West Haven or in Newington, rural hospitals that will be shuttered, clinics providing telehealth--all of the people who are necessary to provide those services, whether they are the technicians or the clinician or the janitors who are part of a team. And the VA thrives on teamwork.
As things stand, 30,000 VA employees will lose their jobs. That is not what America should be tolerating or celebrating on Independence Day and this time in our Nation's history.
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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I ask that the scheduled vote be commenced immediately.
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