Video: Blumenthal to Republicans, Collins, Musk: Hold a Town Hall and Meet Face to Face with Veterans

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) took to the Senate floor to urge his Republican colleagues to join his efforts to hold the Trump Administration accountable for its egregious cuts to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and benefits.

“We need a plan for accountability. That's our job, to hold responsible officials who have the obligation and opportunity to serve our veterans at a time when Elon Musk and Donald Trump are slashing and trashing our [VA] with real-life impacts on the health care and disability benefits that are afforded to our nation's heroes. It is a disgrace. It is shameful. It is unacceptable. And we need to muster the courage and fortitude on the part of this body to call it out and call it off,” stressed Blumenthal.

Earlier this week, Blumenthal announced he will be leading a series of shadow hearings to counter President Trump’s mass firing of federal veteran employees and cuts for veterans and their families. He has invited VA Secretary Doug Collins to the first shadow hearing on Wednesday, April 2^nd along with other stakeholders to examine the Administration’s mass firings and their impacts on veterans. Participation will also be open to both Democrat and Republican Senators.

Blumenthal called on his Republican colleagues who continue to brush off the impacts of the Trump Administration’s VA directives to hold town halls and meet with veterans: “I am disappointed and dismayed that so many of my Republican colleagues are seeking to minimize or diminish the human impacts of these cuts, firings, freezes…[T]o my colleagues or anyone who claims there are no impacts, go host a veteran town hall in your state. Talk to the local VFW or American Legion or any of the other veterans service organizations. Go visit a local VA medical center or clinic or talk to employees who work there. When you meet face to face with your constituents, the immediate impacts of this Administration's malign directives, whether it's out of malevolence or simply malign neglect will become apparent. And either way, it is unacceptable.”

Blumenthal has led several town halls across Connecticut since January. He has also rallied and met with veterans and labor leaders affected by the Trump Administration’s assaults on the VA’s workforce and harmful policies multiple times.

Blumenthal also called on VA Secretary Doug Collins and Elon Musk to host veteran townhalls: “And I invite Secretary Collins to actually come to a town hall—make it Connecticut, make it anywhere—a town hall where you will meet face to face with a group of veterans who will tell you what these cuts, freezes, and firings mean in real life to the services that are supposed to be provided to them and will be denied because of these directives…And Elon Musk, you come to a town hall with veterans. You face them and tell them that they can't have the medical care they need and deserve, to treat cancer or hypertension or any of the diseases or illnesses that result from exposure to toxic chemicals or burn pits.”

Blumenthal concluded his remarks urging bipartisan Congressional oversight: “VA Secretary Collins, Musk, and Trump, the VA team are prioritizing a fire first, analyze later mindset and strategy at the expense of the very people they're supposed to serve—people who served and sacrificed for us, America's veterans. It's unconscionable, it's unwise and ineffective.…America's veterans deserve nothing less than for every single member in this body to call into question these damaging policies. They deserve nothing less than the gold standard in health care as well as full and complete benefits of the PACT Act and in every other respect, the respect and responsibility that we have. To disrespect them is un-American.”

Blumenthal and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Democrats are leading the effort to push back against the Trump Administration’s mass firings and cuts at VA. Earlier this month, Blumenthal and 21 of his Democratic colleagues introduced the Putting Veterans First Act—comprehensive legislation to protect veterans, military spouses, and VA employees indiscriminately targeted in the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts at VA and across the federal government.

The full transcript of Senator Blumenthal’s floor remarks are copied below and a video can be found here.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Mr. President, I'm here on the Floor because we are in a moment of crisis for our veterans. It is a moment of profound historic challenge to the Veterans Administration, and what we need from members of this body—and I'm encouraged by the response so far—is a call to action. We need a plan for accountability. That's our job, to hold responsible officials who have the obligation and opportunity to serve our veterans at a time when Elon Musk and Donald Trump are slashing and trashing our Veterans Administration with real-life impacts on the health care and disability benefits that are afforded to our nation's heroes. It is a disgrace. It is shameful. It is unacceptable. And we need to muster the courage and fortitude on the part of this body to call it out and call it off.

That's why I'm here, and it is only the beginning of a plan for accountability that will include others—my colleagues coming to the floor this week and next—as well as hearings that we will organize, shadow hearings, not necessarily formal hearings of the Committee, but hearings that we will have on aspects of this challenge that call for us to highlight the need for action. And we're going to come to the Floor as well to seek unanimous consent on measures that will stop the degrading and decimation of the Veterans Administration. It is illegal. It's immoral. And it's immoral because we have a solemn responsibility. I don't need to make a long speech to tell my colleagues about that responsibility. We recognize it rhetorically, all the time. I'm here not to make a speech, but to have an impact.

Next week, we're going to be voting on the next VA Deputy Secretary Nominee, Paul Lawrence, and I just want to be really blunt—I voted for Doug Collins to be VA Secretary. It was a mistake, because Secretary Collins has not been forthcoming with facts. He's not been transparent. He's not been responsive to us or to veterans, and his employees, who are asking questions about what the future of the VA will be, given the firing of 80,000 members of the VA workforce, projected in the next few months, without a plan, without a strategy, without any forethought about what its real-life impact will be.

I voted for Doug Collins, and I regret it. I apologize for it. I'm not making the same mistake with Paul Lawrence. There's no reason to believe he'll be any different, not to mention any better, because he's the Deputy. I have respect for their service in the military, as I do for anyone who has worn the uniform, but I cannot, I cannot vote for Paul Lawrence, and I hope my colleagues will be as vigilant as I am seeking to be in voting against him. I will oppose his nomination.

Since taking office, this Administration has shortsightedly short-changed, systematically betrayed our veterans with policies that are against their interests. The goal here: save money so that tax cuts can be financed—tax cuts for the billionaires and millionaires that populate this Administration and drive its policy. They've fired already 2,400 VA employees, many of them high performers. They've been promoted to provisional positions because they've been high performers. They are in those provisional positions for a time when they would become permanently in those positions, but because they are provisional, they've been fired. Likewise, the younger members of the workforce, who have just been recruited for positions that are open and where their talent is vitally needed—they are the future of our VA, younger VA employees who want to make a career of it, want to serve fellow veterans. 30% of all the fired workers are veterans, because 30% of the workforce there is veterans. In fact, the newer employees may be veterans in a higher percentage. We are terminating the future workforce of the VA again, simply to save money, to finance tax cuts for Elon Musk and his fellow billionaires and ultra-wealthy.

Now, the workers who have been fired are in positions of health care and disability benefits processing. So what's at risk here is literally the everyday medical needs of our veterans. They are physicians, thousands of them, nurses, schedulers, counselors, the janitors who make sure the facilities are clean, the surgeon who goes into the operating suite can't do it alone. He needs his team. We're firing his team, as well as the medical care providers. And on the disability benefits side, the increase in workforce that took place in recent years is to deal with the PACT Act increase in applicants for disability benefits. Our veterans who have been exposed to burn pits and toxic chemicals, they are in need of screening, advising, consulting, as well as care and treatment. We had bipartisan support for the PACT Act. The law is dead-letter, if it's implemented haphazardly. And we are betraying the goals, the trusts, that we sought so proudly to espouse when we passed that PACT Act that recognized the sacrifice that veterans make, and their families, when they have cancer or hypertension or diabetes or any of the diseases that can result from exposure to those toxic chemicals.

VA Secretary Doug Collins has claimed, falsely, there will be no impact to veterans' health care and benefits as a result of the Administration's malign directive. At the end of the Biden Administration, the VA was delivering more benefits, more health care, to more veterans than ever before as a result of the success of the PACT Act, for toxic exposed veterans and trust in the VA was at an all-time high. And we are risking not just the health care and benefits to veterans now, but in the future, because the credibility of the VA will be decimated, along with its workforce, and the cancelation of contracts eliminates another source of resources for our veterans. VA employees are the ones delivering health care. VA employees are the ones processing the PACT Act benefits.

And I am disappointed and dismayed that so many of my Republican colleagues are seeking to minimize or diminish the human impacts of these cuts, firings, freezes—the cuts in funding, the freezes in hiring, the firings of employees who are there now, even at a time when there are 40,000 open positions, the VA is recruiting to fill them. 3,000 surgeons, 6,000 nurses, thousands of counselors and schedulers, open positions, at the same time that it's trying to recruit people to fill those positions, it's firing the workers who have similar or the same positions right now. Makes no sense. But the human impacts are what trouble me the most. And to my colleagues or anyone who claims there are no impacts, go host a veteran town hall in your state. Talk to the local VFW or American Legion or any of the other veterans service organizations. Go visit a local VA medical center or clinic or talk to employees who work there. When you meet face to face with your constituents, the immediate impacts of this Administration's malign directives, whether it's out of malevolence or simply malign neglect will become apparent. And either way, it is unacceptable.

And I invite Secretary Collins to actually come to a town hall—make it Connecticut, make it anywhere—a town hall where you will meet face-to-face with a group of veterans who will tell you what these cuts, freezes, and firings mean in real life to the services that are supposed to be provided to them and will be denied because of these directives. And let's be clear, the one behind them is Elon Musk. The one who is directing these cuts, freezes, and firings is an unappointed, unelected billionaire who has never contemplated wearing the uniform of this country, not to mention helping or serving our veterans in any way. And Elon Musk, you come to a town hall with veterans. You face them and tell them that they can't have the medical care they need and deserve, to treat cancer or hypertension or any of the diseases or illnesses that result from exposure to toxic chemicals or burn pits.

I attended a veterans event last week. I talk to veterans all the time when I am back in Connecticut. I know firsthand what these cuts, freezes, and firings mean to them. The impacts caused by the Musk and Trump heartbreaking, heartless cuts and other damaging directives are being felt in every corner of my state of Connecticut, and every part of our country.

I just want to read a few sentences from Sioux Falls Live, a newspaper in South Dakota. “Staffing cuts in the federal Department of Veterans Affairs are disproportionately affecting the veterans that the department preferentially hires,” said members of a South Dakota veterans advocacy group. They worry that the Trump Administration's goal of cutting 80,000 more employees will put veterans out of work, without a vetting process, and they will erode and eventually destroy the quality of services provided. Eugene Murphy, of Sioux Falls, is a past national commander of disabled American veterans and a Vietnam War veteran who was paralyzed by gunshot wounds. “How are you going to treat my brothers and sisters like that,” he said. “It's not right.” I hope those words will echo in this chamber. It's not right. It's not right.

These veterans in South Dakota have a right to be angry, not to mention concerned and worried, not just for themselves but veterans across the country. We heard a VA hospital in South Dakota is at risk of losing nearly 20% of its staff as a direct result of Trump and Musk's illegal and indiscriminate reduction in force plan. And yet, Secretary Collins continues to dutifully carry out the Musk plan, with no buy-in, no consultation, no town hall with veterans.

Now let me read you an excerpt from an article in the Spokesman Review that contains interviews with some of the VA employees that Collins illegally fired—VA employees like Ricky Noschese, who worked at Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Here's what Ricky Noschese—I apologize for the mispronunciation—Ricky Noschese says about that federal health center where he supervises a team of technicians in charge of keeping equipment running at the hospital. Another correction—he supervised them. Lovell serves 90,000 patients a year, including veterans, active duty servicemembers, and their dependents. “In less than a year on the job, Ricky had identified more than $10 million in cost savings and had a long list of ideas to improve operations and complete long-delayed projects. With the support of his boss, Noschese wrote a detailed four-page document to justify his employment. He described how he had helped save taxpayers more than $10 million by using nearly two decades of experience as an HVAC technician to identify efficiencies and find cost-effective ways to extend the life of air handling units. He was head of a 12-person team responsible for ensuring clean water, fire safety, and other essentials required to maintain the hospital's accreditation. Noschese and his bosses hoped he would be exempted from the mass firing, but after they sent the justification memo up the chain, they got a curt, simple, stark response. The document was too long. He should sum up his position in no more than three sentences. Noschese was told that a member of hospital leadership did that, but it made no difference. He had to turn in his badge and go home.”

Now, I tell you this story in some detail because it shows that efforts to eliminate waste when they are draconian and cruel and indiscriminate actually create more costs. Laying waste to the VA with across-the-board cuts without careful, selective consideration actually raise the expense as it will in Noschese’s job, where there is nobody to do that excellent work based on his experience and expertise, and ultimately the costs will be higher as a result. But Elon Musk apparently doesn't care, nor does Doug Collins.

Take disabled veteran Megan Rochelle Cole. She worked at Lovell managing, the supply of medications and insured patients so that they would receive only the best drugs—not expired or recalled drugs. When she was fired, simply on the basis of being a probationary employee, she was in the final stages of buying a house. Disabled veteran, doing work responsibly and well, about to buy a house, suddenly she has no income. Let me read a few more lines about her, “To make matters worse, the VA didn't provide her with a form required to file for unemployment benefits, and she had to withdraw from that home purchase. ‘Everything was going smoothly like it was supposed to,’ she said, until the sudden termination left her feeling humiliated and lost. ‘Nobody knew anything. It was just heartbreaking.’ Cole's supervisors, again, tried to help her preserve her job, to no avail.”

Let's be clear, this Administration's actions have a real lasting impact on veterans' care and benefits despite Secretary Collins’s blatantly disingenuous claims that there have been none, there will be none. Elon Musk should know what those consequences will be, and Secretary Collins should be transparent with the Administration and with us. These heartbreaking and heartless cuts will destroy lives and livelihoods.

VA Secretary Collins, Musk, and Trump, the VA team are prioritizing a fire first, analyze later mindset and strategy at the expense of the very people they're supposed to serve—people who served and sacrificed for us, America's veterans. It's unconscionable, it's unwise and ineffective. It's immoral.

And I will say this in closing. Nobody is claiming—certainly I'm not—that there isn't waste that we can eliminate, that fraud or abuse shouldn't be pursued. In fact, if this Administration were serious about fraud and abuse and waste, they wouldn't have fired Mike Missal, the Inspector General, whose service under both Democratic and Republican Administrations has been exemplary. He has been saluted and praised in Republican Administrations as well as Democratic by my colleagues on the Republican side as well as ours, but he was fired inexplicably, inconsistently with the goal of eliminating waste and fraud. It belies their claims and pretensions to want to eliminate abuse and fraud and waste to fire the watchdog who would call it out, investigate it, and refer it for prosecution, as he has done, saving tens of millions of dollars for taxpayers and benefits for veterans.

He has served both Republican and Democrat Administrations, and there is nothing partisan about anything that I've said here about the impact on veterans, the cruelty and deeply heartbreaking consequences of these actions. My Republican colleagues should join us when we begin next week with floor speeches and unanimous consent requests and the hearings, shadow hearings, that we will conduct, and other actions that we will undertake in this call for accountability, a call for action. Nothing partisan should deter them from joining us. This responsibility is one that we share in this body to highlight and call out and call off the Musk-Trump disastrous and disgraceful cuts in benefits and health care for our veterans.

We're hearing from veterans, and again, I encourage my colleagues to hear more—directly, immediately, personally from them. I invite Secretary Collins to join me in a town hall as soon as possible. I invite him again as I did in a letter recently, to appear on April 2 before a shadow hearing we will conduct in this Capitol. He can explain himself. He can tell me why I'm wrong. But most important, he can answer to our nation's veterans who deserve and need better from this Administration. America's veterans deserve nothing less than for every single member in this body to call into question these damaging policies. They deserve nothing less than the gold standard in health care as well as full and complete benefits of the PACT Act and in every other respect, the respect and responsibility that we have. To disrespect them is un-American.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the Floor.

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