In Senate floor remarks on Wednesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) warned of possible cuts to the VA.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The Senator from Connecticut. Mr. President, I'm here on the floor because we are in a
00:07moment of crisis for our veterans. It is a moment of profound historic challenge
00:16to the Veterans Administration and what we need from members of this body, and
00:23and I'm encouraged by the response so far, is a call to action.
00:32We need a plan for accountability. That's our job to hold responsible
00:38officials who have the obligation and opportunity to serve our veterans at a
00:44time when Elon Musk
00:49and Donald Trump
00:50are slashing and trashing our Veterans Administration with real-life impacts on
00:57the health care and disability benefits that are afforded to our nation's heroes.
01:02It is a disgrace. It is shameful. It is unacceptable and we need to muster the
01:12courage and fortitude on the part of this body to call it out and call it off.
01:19That's why I'm here and it is only the beginning of a plan for accountability
01:25that will include others, my colleagues coming to the floor this week and next,
01:33as well as hearings that we will organize, shadow hearings, not necessarily
01:42formal hearings of the committee, but hearings that we will have on aspects of
01:50this challenge that call for us to highlight the need for action. And we're
01:59going to come to the floor as well to seek unanimous consent on measures that
02:02will stop the degrading and decimation of the Veterans Administration. It is
02:09illegal. It's immoral. And it's immoral because we have a solemn responsibility.
02:18I don't need to make a long speech to tell my colleagues about that
02:23responsibility. We recognize it rhetorically all the time. I'm here not
02:29to make a speech, but to have an impact. Next week we're going to be voting on
02:36the next VA Deputy Secretary nominee, Paul Lawrence. And I just want to be
02:46really blunt. I voted for Doug Collins to be VA Secretary. It was a mistake
02:53because Secretary Collins has not been forthcoming with facts. He's not been
02:59transparent. He's not been responsive to us or to veterans and his employees who
03:07are asking questions about what the future of the VA will be, given the
03:13firing of 80,000 members of the VA workforce projected in the next few
03:21months, without a plan, without a strategy, without any forethought about
03:26what its real-life impact will be. I voted for Doug Collins and I regret it. I
03:34apologize for it. I'm not making the same mistake with Paul Lawrence. There's no
03:39reason to believe he'll be any different, not to mention any better, because he's
03:46the deputy. I have respect for their service in the military, as I do for
03:51anyone who has worn the uniform, but I cannot, I cannot vote for Paul Lawrence.
04:01And I hope my colleagues will be as vigilant as I am seeking to be in
04:09voting against him. I will oppose his nomination. Since taking office, this
04:17administration has short-sightedly, short-changed, systematically betrayed
04:23our veterans with policies that are against their interests. The goal here,
04:32save money so that tax cuts can be financed. Tax cuts for the billionaires
04:41and millionaires that populate this administration and drive its policies.
04:48They've fired already 2,400 VA employees, many of them high performers. They've
04:56been promoted to provisional positions because they've been high performers.
05:02They are in those provisional positions for a time when they would become
05:10permanently in those positions, but because they are provisional, they've
05:14been fired. Likewise, the younger members of the workforce who have just been
05:22recruited for positions that are open and where their talent is vitally needed.
05:29They are the future of our VA. Younger VA employees who want to make a career
05:35of it, want to serve fellow veterans. 30% of all the fired workers are veterans
05:44because 30% of the workforce there is veteran. In fact, the newer employees may
05:48be veterans in a higher percentage. We are terminating the future workforce of
05:58the VA, again, simply to save money, to finance tax cuts for Elon Musk and his
06:08fellow billionaires and ultra-wealthy. Now, the workers who have been fired are
06:18in positions of healthcare and disability benefits processing. So what's at risk
06:27here is literally the everyday medical needs of our veterans. They are
06:33physicians, thousands of them, nurses, schedulers, counselors, the janitors who
06:42make sure the facilities are clean. The surgeon who goes into the operating
06:49suite can't do it alone. He needs his team. We're firing his team, as well as
06:58the medical care providers. And on the disability benefits side, the increase in
07:04workforce that took place in recent years is to deal with the PAC Act
07:09increase in applicants for disability benefits. Our veterans who have been
07:13exposed to burn pits and toxic chemicals, they are in need of screening,
07:19advising, consulting, as well as care and treatment. We had bipartisan support for
07:28the PAC Act. The law is dead letter if it's implemented haphazardly. And we are
07:40betraying the goals, the trust that we sought so proudly to espouse when we
07:50passed that PAC Act that recognized the sacrifice that veterans are making and
07:57their families when they have cancer or hypertension or diabetes or any of the
08:03diseases that can result from exposure to those toxic chemicals. VA Secretary
08:12Doug Collins has claimed, falsely, there will be no impact to veterans' health
08:17care and benefits as a result of the administration's malign directive. At the
08:23end of the Biden administration, the VA was delivering more benefits, more
08:28health care to more veterans than ever before as a result of the success of the
08:33PAC Act. For toxic, exposed veterans and trust in the VA was at an all-time high.
08:41And we are risking not just the health care and benefits to veterans now but in
08:51the future because the credibility of the VA will be decimated along with its
08:56workforce. And the cancellation of contracts eliminates another source of
09:03resources for our veterans. VA employees are the ones delivering health care. VA
09:11employees are the ones processing the PAC Act benefits. And I am disappointed
09:22and dismayed that so many of my Republican colleagues are seeking to
09:29minimize or diminish the human impacts of these cuts, firings, freezes, the cuts
09:40in funding, the freezes in hiring, the firings of employees who are there now,
09:48even at a time when there are 40,000 open positions the VA is recruiting to
09:55fill them, 3,000 surgeons, 6,000 nurses, thousands of counselors and schedulers,
10:04open positions, at the same time that it's trying to recruit people to fill
10:10those positions, it's firing the workers who have similar or the same positions
10:16right now. It makes no sense. But the human impacts are what trouble me the
10:23most. And to my colleagues or anyone who claim there are no impacts, go host a
10:30veteran town hall in your state. Talk to the local VFW or American Legion or any
10:39of the other veteran service organizations. Go visit a local VA medical
10:44center or clinic or talk to employees who work there. When you meet face-to-face
10:52with your constituents, the immediate impacts of this administration's malign
10:58directives, whether it's out of malevolence or simply malign neglect, will
11:06become apparent. And either way it is unacceptable. And I invite Secretary
11:11Collins to actually come to a town hall. Make it Connecticut. Make it anywhere. A
11:18town hall where you will meet face-to-face with a group of veterans
11:22who will tell you what these cuts, freezes and firings mean in real life to
11:29the services that are supposed to be provided to them and will be denied
11:36because of these directives. And let's be clear.
11:44The one behind them is Elon Musk.
11:49The one who is directing these cuts, freezes and firings is an unappointed,
11:57unelected billionaire who has never contemplated wearing the uniform of this
12:06country, not to mention helping or serving our veterans in any way. And Elon
12:15Musk, you come to a town hall with veterans. You face them and tell them that
12:23they can't have the medical care they need and deserve to treat cancer or
12:27hypertension or any of the diseases or illnesses that result from exposure to
12:33toxic chemicals or burn pits.
12:38I attended a veterans event last week. I talk to veterans all the time when I am
12:48back in Connecticut. I know firsthand what these cuts, freezes and firings mean
12:56to them. The impacts caused by the Musk and Trump heartbreaking, heartless cuts
13:05and other damaging directives are being felt in every corner of my state of
13:09Connecticut and every part of our country. I just want to read a few
13:14sentences from Sioux Falls Live, a newspaper in South Dakota, quote.
13:23Staffing cuts in the federal Department of Veterans Affairs are disproportionately
13:29affecting the veterans that the department preferentially hires, end quote, said
13:35members of a South Dakota veterans advocacy group. They worry that the Trump
13:42administration's goal of cutting 80,000 more employees will put veterans out of
13:47work without a vetting process and they will erode and eventually destroy the
13:54quality of services provided.
13:56Eugene Murphy of Sioux Falls is a past national commander of disabled American
14:04veterans and a Vietnam War veteran who was paralyzed by gunshot wounds.
14:12Quote, How are you going to treat my brothers and sisters like that? He said,
14:21it's not right.
14:26I hope those words will echo in this chamber. It's not right.
14:32It's not right. These veterans in South Dakota have a right to be angry,
14:40not to mention concern and worried, not just for themselves, but veterans across
14:46the country. We heard a V. A. Hospital in South Dakota is at risk of losing nearly
14:5320% of its staff as a direct result of Trump and must illegal and indiscriminate
15:00reduction in force plan. And yet, Secretary Collins continues to dutifully
15:11carry out the must plan
15:17with no buy in,
15:20no consultation,
15:22no town hall with that.
15:25Now, let me read you an excerpt from an article in the spokesman review that
15:31contained interviews with some of the V. A. Employees that Collins illegally fired
15:38V. A. Employees like Ricky Norchess,
15:42who worked at Lovell Federal Health Care Center.
15:48Here's what Ricky no Casey
15:53apologize for the mispronunciation. Ricky no Casey says about that federal
16:02health center where he supervises a team of technicians in charge of keeping
16:09equipment running at the hospital. Another correction.
16:13He supervised them.
16:16Level serves 90,000 patients a year, including veterans, active duty service
16:23members and their dependents. In less than a year on the job, Ricky had
16:30identified more than $10 million in cost savings and had a long list of ideas to
16:37improve operations and complete long delayed projects
16:41with the support of his boss. No, Casey wrote a detailed four page document to
16:48justify his employment. He described how he had helped save taxpayers more than
16:55$10 million by using nearly two decades of experience as an eight fact
17:02technician to identify efficiencies and find cost effective ways to extend the
17:07life of air handling units. He was head of a 12 person team responsible for
17:14ensuring clean water, fire, safety and other essentials required to maintain
17:20the hospital's accreditation. No, Casey and his bosses hope he would be
17:24exempted from the mass fire. But after they sent the justification memo up the
17:29change, they got a curt, simple, stark response. The document was too long. He
17:39should sum up his position in no more than three sentences. No, Casey was told
17:45that a member of hospital leadership did that, but it made no difference. He had
17:50to turn in his badge and go home. Now, I tell you this story in some detail
17:56because it shows that efforts to eliminate waste when they are
18:02decronian and cruel and indiscriminate actually create more costs. Laying waste
18:17to the VA with across-the-board cuts without careful, selective
18:24consideration actually raise the expense as it will in no Casey's job
18:31where there's nobody to do that excellent work based on his experience
18:36and expertise and ultimately the cost will be higher as a result. But Elon Musk
18:46apparently doesn't care, nor does Doug Collin. Take disabled veteran Megan
18:53Rochelle Cole. She worked at level managing the supply of medications and
19:00insured patients so that they would receive only the best drugs, not expired
19:08or recalled drugs. When she was fired simply on the basis of being a
19:13probationary employee, she was in the final stages of buying a house. Disabled
19:19veteran, doing work responsibly and well, about to buy a house, suddenly she has no
19:29income. Let me read a few more lines about her. Quote, to make matters worse
19:35the VA didn't provide her with a form required to file for unemployment
19:40benefits and she had to withdraw from that home purchase. Everything was going
19:46smoothly like it was supposed to, she said, until the sudden termination left
19:52her feeling humiliated and lost. Nobody knew anything. It was just heartbreaking.
19:58Cole's supervisors again tried to help her preserve her job to no avail. Let's
20:10be clear, this administration's actions have a real lasting impact on veterans
20:18care and benefits. Despite Secretary Collins blatantly disingenuous claims
20:24that there have been none, there will be none, Elon Musk should know what those
20:31consequences will be and Secretary Collins should be transparent with the
20:40administration and with us. These heartbreaking and heartless cuts will
20:48destroy lives and livelihoods. VA Secretary Collins, Musk and Trump, the VA
20:56team are prioritizing a fire first, analyze later mindset and strategy at
21:06the expense of the very people they're supposed to serve. People who served and
21:10sacrificed for us, Americans veterans. It's unconscionable, it's unwise and
21:19ineffective, it's immoral. And I will say this in closing, nobody is claiming,
21:31certainly I'm not, that there isn't waste that we can eliminate, that fraud or
21:38abuse shouldn't be pursued. In fact, if this administration were serious about
21:43fraud and abuse and waste, they wouldn't have fired Mike Missell, the Inspector
21:49General, whose service under both Democratic and Republican administrations
21:56has been exemplary. He has been saluted and praised in Republican administrations
22:05as well as Democratic by my colleagues on the Republican side as well as ours,
22:11but he was fired inexplicably, inconsistently with the goal of
22:19eliminating waste and fraud. It belies their claims and pretensions to want to
22:30eliminate abuse and fraud and waste to fire the watchdog who would call it out,
22:39investigate it, and refer it for prosecution as he has done, saving tens
22:45of millions of dollars for taxpayers and benefits for veterans. He has served both
22:55Republican and Democrat administrations and there is nothing partisan about
23:01anything that I've said here about the impact on veterans, the cruelty and
23:07deeply heartbreaking consequences of these actions. My Republican colleagues
23:16should join us when we begin next week with floor speeches and unanimous
23:23consent requests and the hearings, shadow hearings, that we will conduct and
23:29other actions that we will undertake in this call for accountability, a call for
23:36action. Nothing partisan should deter them from joining us. This responsibility
23:44is one that we share in this body to highlight and call out and call off the
23:54must-trump disastrous and disgraceful cuts in benefits and health care for our
24:02veterans. We're hearing from veterans and again I encourage my colleagues to hear
24:11more directly, immediately, personally from them. I invite Secretary Collins to
24:18join me in a town hall as soon as possible. I invite him again, as I did in
24:27a letter recently, to appear on April 2nd before a shadow hearing we will conduct
24:35in this Capitol. He can explain himself. He can tell me why I'm wrong, but most
24:48important, he can answer to our nation's veterans who deserve and need better
24:57from this administration. America's veterans deserve nothing less than for
25:04every single member in this body to call into question these damaging policies.
25:11They deserve nothing less than the gold standard in health care as well as full
25:18and complete benefits of the PAC Act and in every other respect. The respect and
25:27responsibility that we have to disrespect them is un-American.
25:34Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
25:49I note the absence of a quorum.