Video: At Hearing, Blumenthal Announces He Will Join Gallego in Holding all VA Nominations in Protest of Trump-Musk Cuts

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – At a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing today to consider pending nominations at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) announced he would join fellow Committee member and U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) in placing a hold on all VA nominees to protest President Donald Trump’s slashing cuts to VA care and benefits. As Ranking Member, Blumenthal emphasized his plan to use every tool possible to hold the Trump Administration accountable, including the oversight shadow hearings he announced last week and the hold on VA nominees.

“Right at the outset, let me say I will join in on insisting that there be no unanimous consent to any of these nominations. My colleague Senator Gallego of Arizona has stated he will block the nominations, which means he will object to unanimous consent,” said Blumenthal. “…I think the Senate is entitled to a full debate on each of these nominations…The impacts of the roll-back and the heartless, heartbreaking cuts in veterans’ services are already evident to many of us who were home just this past weekend.”

Emphasizing the lack of transparency from VA Secretary Collins and the Trump Administration, Blumenthal continued: “Tomorrow at a shadow hearing – as we’ve called it, beginning at 3:00 PM – we’re going to explore some of the real life impacts of the cuts, freezes, and firings that have occurred already. The cuts in funding, freezes in hiring, and firing of thousands of VA employees. The fact that the nominee for Secretary could in this way – in my view – so mislead us, indicates to me we need an especially exacting and demanding process.”

Blumenthal will lead his first shadow hearing tomorrow at 3:00 pm ET to examine the Administration’s mass firings and their impacts on veterans, who make up one-third of the federal workforce. Witnesses will include veterans and stakeholders, including veterans who worked in the federal government and were illegally fired by the Trump Administration. Blumenthal has also invited VA Secretary Doug Collins and acting Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Charles Ezell to testify.

Blumenthal concluded his opening: “Let me just conclude, we’re going to have this shadow hearing with veterans who are our eyes and ears about what is actually happening. We are doing this shadow hearing because Secretary Collins has so far refused to appear before this Committee. I know he has agreed at some point in the future to do so—perhaps in connection with the budget hearing…but we need answers right away to the questions we have been asking in letters we have written. And we need them in public so veterans can see, and have some transparency and visibility into what is actually happening. The anger among our veterans’ community is mounting.”

During his questioning, Blumenthal pressed the nominee for VA General Counsel, Lieutenant Colonel James Baehr, on a policy requiring Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees to first contact Trump VA political appointees before seeking legal advice: “Mr. Baehr…apparently there is a policy we’ve heard that requires VBA employees to first contact their superiors for permission – that is political leadership –- before they talk to Office of General Counsel. In other words, they have to get permission from the political leadership before talking to the Office of General Counsel. Would you oppose that kind of policy?”

When Mr. Baehr did not respond yes or no, Blumenthal continued pressing: “Wouldn’t you agree that VA employees should be free to talk to the Office of General Counsel before first seeking permission from the political leadership?” When Mr. Baehr once again failed to respond without saying yes or no, Blumenthal concluded: “I think that’s a complicated answer to a question that could be answered very simply that employees should be free to seek legal advice on issues before they take action that might violate the law.”

The full text of Blumenthal’s opening is copied below and a video link is available here.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to each of the nominees for your willingness to serve and to your families for their support. As we say about our veterans, families serve as much as our men and women in uniform. And the same is true of all who serve in our Veterans’ Affairs Department.

Right at the outset let me just say that I will join in insisting that there be no unanimous consent to any of these nominations. My colleague, Senator Gallego of Arizona, has stated that he will “block” the nominations, which means he will object to unanimous consent. I certainly intended to do the same, and I think the Senate is entitled to a full debate on each of these nominations. This committee will delve into your background, but let me just say about this process—I voted for Secretary Doug Collins after his assurances about being transparent, about preserving the workforce of the VA, about putting veterans first. I’ve been disappointed. I think that is a vast understatement because he has failed to respond to our inquires and questions, and he has targeted 80,000 employees, in addition to the 2,400 already fired, in the VA workforce. The impacts of the rollback and the heartless, heartbreaking cuts in veterans’ services are already evident to many of us who were home just this past weekend.

Tomorrow at a shadow hearing, as we’ve called it, beginning at 3:00PM, we’re going to explore some of the real life impacts of the cuts, freezes, and firings that have occurred already. Cuts in funding, freezes in hiring, and firing of thousands of VA employees. The fact that the nominee for Secretary could in this way, in my view, so mislead us indicates to me that we need an especially exacting and demanding process. And I am intent that we will explore as fully and completely as possible the backgrounds of every nominee for every position.

Each of you will have an extraordinarily important role in the VA. Mr. Brown, if confirmed as Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, you will lead a department with one of VA’s most sacred missions - honoring our veterans, servicemembers, and their families with a dignified burial and lasting memorial. I hope that you will continue the excellent leadership of your predecessor, our last Under Secretary, General Matt Quinn, particularly to ensure that the National Cemetery Administration is adequately staffed and able to accomplish its mission.We have heard about the Musk-Trump assault on the VA workforce that has already apparently discouraged and driven off a number of our senior NCA officials in the field, and as a result, there may be delays in multiple months in burials and internments. You need to be fully transparent with us, with families and others in pushing back on Secretary Collins, Elon Musk and Donald Trump if they continue to fire or fail to hire sufficient numbers to provide the kind of service our veterans need and deserve. 

Mr. Baehr, if confirmed as VA’s General Counsel, you will be the top lawyer at the Department. You’re going to be advising VA leadership on litigation, policy, and ethics. You’re going to be working for a president that says that he doesn’t need to obey court orders. You have expressed to me that you believe that court orders need to be obeyed. The executive branch overreach cannot be permitted to stand if there’s a disobeyance of court orders and I will be asking you very direct questions about your adherence to the rule of law. Mr. Topping, if confirmed as Chief Financial Officer, you will oversee a budget that is approaching $400 billion and it directly impacts the care and services provided for all of our nation’s veterans. As we have seen, Elon Musk is pushing indiscriminate cost-cutting across all federal agencies, regardless of the consequences. This effort is not only upending lives and harming veterans, but it is incredibly short-sighted and will cost taxpayers more in the long-run. The failure to prevent illness, just as an example, costs a lot more than providing the kind of care veterans need to avoid the additional expense of treatment if they become sicker.  

Today, we need to know whether each of you will put veterans first. I have offered legislation called Putting Veterans First Act that would require all of the fired veterans in all of the agencies of the federal government to be hired back, all the fired employees in the VA to be hired back, and prevent anything like the blanket-across-the-board firings that have occurred by requiring individual, personalized assessments of the performance of any individual who is considered for termination. And it would also give employees appeal rights—due process essentially. This legislation would prevent the mining and collecting of data from veterans by anyone, including the Musk operation which has been going forward.

Let me conclude by saying that we are going to have this shadow hearing tomorrow with veterans who are our eyes and ears about what is actually happening. We are doing this shadow hearing because Secretary Collins has so far refused to appear before this committee. I know he has agreed at some point in the future to do so, perhaps in connection with the budget hearing. I’m looking forward to that appearance.

But we need answers right away to the questions we have been asking in letters that we’ve written, and we need them in public so veterans can see and have some transparency and visibility into what is actually happening. The anger among our veteran’s community is mounting. To quote the Commander of the VFW when he appeared in the hearing before us, we need to “stop the bleeding.” Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

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