00:00Thank you, Mr. President. I'm here to sound the alarm, to make my colleagues
00:09aware of the crisis that faces us. It challenges all veterans. It faces the
00:20United States of America because of the chaos and confusion that continues at
00:25the Veterans Administration and the sliding downward of service that is
00:37available to our nation's heroes. On Monday, the VA secretary, Doug Collins,
00:45announced that he would be abandoning his disastrous plan to fire 83,000 VA
00:53employees. And the reason is pretty simple. The Trump administration is set to lose
01:0130,000 employees at the end of the year. That number is incredibly worrisome.
01:09It's a significant number. The VA typically has a net gain of 10,000 VA employees every
01:18year. And yet this year, it stands to lose more than 30,000 of its workforce, despite
01:26serving more veterans than ever before, significantly more because of the PAC Act.
01:32So at a time when the VA already has 40,000 vacancies in veterans' health care, this
01:41administration ought to be focused on hiring more employees, not touting how its employees are
01:48abandoning the VA, fleeing a toxic work environment, a demoralized and demoralizing work environment.
02:00They are fleeing the VA because of a failed and failing leadership.
02:08Now, the reason why the VA secretary has abandoned this plan to fire 83,000 people is essentially
02:24unexplained. There's no transparency. He's denied us information about who would have been fired. He has
02:32refused to provide information about the 30,000 individual workers who are leaving and what positions
02:41they hold. But here's what we know for sure. Only because of the blistering backlash of veterans
02:52themselves, the veteran service organizations that represent them, members of Congress like myself,
03:00and the public, is he in fact abandoning this cruel and stupid plan, which has never been explained.
03:14He's abandoning it because of the protest of veterans and VSOs who spoke out, and I thank them. I'm here to say,
03:25thank you, thank you to the American Legion, veterans of foreign wars, the DVA, the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. I could go
03:34through 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.
03:54But 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've already seen some of the impacts of this haphazard effort to force hardworking public servants out of the VA because of a toxic work environment.
04:23created 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 the
04:53in 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.
05:23skilled, skilled, skilled, dedicated employees when they know they'll be fired at any moment.
05:30We 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.
05:45These 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?
06:06Betrayal. Betrayal. Betrayal. Betrayal. The bill he just signed into law.
06:12Make no mistake,
06:15this attrition is not natural, it's not natural attrition to lose 30,000 employees
06:22when the ordinary rate is to hire 10,000 per year.
06:31It is a reduction in force.
06:34You can call it what you will, but it
06:36is essentially a purposeful and intentional reduction
06:41in the workers necessary to provide medical care
06:44and benefits to veterans.
06:50It's shameful to ruin a great institution.
06:56And veterans' health care has provided
07:00world-class, gold standard care to countless heroes
07:06across the country.
07:08This administration is decimating that institution.
07:13American veterans deserve nothing less
07:17than for every single member of this body
07:21to call out and challenge these damaging policies, not applaud them
07:28as some measure of success, or even to sanction them
07:35by our silence.
07:37We need to speak out, stand up for our veterans.
07:41Now is the time before the damage escalates and becomes more serious.
07:49I am absolutely anguished and furious about these cuts, which not only destroy an institution,
07:59but endanger our veterans who want to go to VA clinics and hospitals like the ones
08:07we have in Connecticut, in West Haven or in Newington, rural hospitals that will be shuttered,
08:14clinics providing telehealth, all of the people who are necessary to provide those services,
08:21whether they are the technicians or the janitors who are part of a team and the VA thrives on teamwork.
08:33As things stand, 30,000 VA employees will lose their jobs.
08:44That is not what America should be tolerating or celebrating on Independence Day and this time
08:55in our nation's history.
08:57Thank you, Mr. President.
08:58I yield the floor.
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