[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 9, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2489-S2490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Unanimous Consent Request
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I am here today in the hope that our
colleagues will join me in condemning actions taken by President Trump
and Elon Musk that are devastating to the healthcare of our veterans,
as well as their disability benefits under the PACT Act, and most
especially, deeply harmful to mental health care and suicide prevention
for veterans, and to engage in this call for action restoring the
doctors, counselors, psychiatrists, all who are essential to veterans'
healthcare and have lost their jobs--thousands of them.
The plain, staggering fact is that Musk and Trump are kneecapping the
VA healthcare system at a time when the VA projects a 59-percent
increase. That is right. In this fiscal year going to 2032, a 59-
percent increase in inpatient and outpatient mental health care is
projected.
Now, they have taken a wrecking ball to the VA in order to save money
that then can be used for tax cuts going to people who need them
least--the ultrawealthy, the billionaires and millionaires--at a time
when veterans who need healthcare most will be deprived of it.
The reason is quite simply the staffing shortages that they have
purposefully created--2,400 already; on the chopping block, another
83,000--without a plan or a strategy, admitted to us by the VA itself.
They are making it up as they go along, but they know they want to
slash and trash the VA workforce.
This kind of cruel, heartless, heartbreaking approach to the VA comes
at a time when they already have 40,000 openings of exactly the kind of
skilled professionals that they are firing--40,000 openings, including
3,000 physician positions, 6,000 nurses, thousands of counselors,
janitors, schedulers. And they are firing the very kind of people they
are trying to recruit.
You would think that the Trump administration's top priority at the
VA would be to bolster its mental health workforce at a time when 59-
percent increase is projected, but they are doing just the opposite.
Since the beginning of this administration, there have been 2,400
employees unjustly and illegally terminated already, including Veterans
Crisis Line employees. And the VA's newest staffing goal--that 83,000
number that I mentioned before--is going to be cutting employees at a
time of ever-increasing demand, even in the short term.
All these cuts will do is to harm veterans. There is no elimination
of waste or fraud or abuse. In every Agency and in every program, there
is some waste, but the way to eliminate it is not to slash
indiscriminately and draconian cuts as a way to do it.
While we wait for these 83,000 employees to be axed by Trump and
Musk, we already see the impact. Employee assistance programs and
mental health support contracts for the VA workforce have been
canceled. Staff at vet centers--VA community-based counseling centers--
have been fired. VA mental health staff are being forced to conduct
counseling sessions in open cubicles, putting veterans' privacy at
risk. World-class researchers performing research on mental health and
substance abuse disorders among veterans have been terminated.
Most devastating of all, Veterans Crisis Line has seen a recent
increase in call volume largely from veterans who were either
terminated from the Federal workforce or who were concerned about
losing their benefits or both, because at least a quarter up to a third
or more of the Federal workforce are veterans, and they need that
mental health care.
Amidst that flood of cruel actions taken by the administration, I am
proud that my Democratic colleagues have been united in our resistance
to these relentless attacks on veterans.
It is not only on mental health care, it is all healthcare. It is not
only on healthcare, it is on the PACT Act for veterans who need that
screening, benefits, care. And it is not a matter of eliminating waste
because we know the way to eliminate waste is to go line by line, item
by item carefully and thoughtfully--or as Al Lipphardt, the national
commander of the VFW, told us--and he was describing a wound that he
sustained while in combat during the Vietnam war:
I am thankful that the medics who treated me chose not to
take my whole arm for the sake of efficiency. It took a
trained eye, a skillful hand, and human intuition to fix me
up and get me back in the fight. In my experience, those
operating with a scalpel have a better chance at saving limbs
than those who operate with a chainsaw.
What we are seeing right now is the DOGE tech bros under Elon Musk
operating with that famous chain saw that he has displayed, and they
are doing it to the detriment of our veterans and to those who are
being fired.
As Mr. Lipphardt said, these veterans are now being told their skills
are no longer useful to the government. We are losing people who are
genuinely committed to the mission and find a continued sense of
purpose in what they do.
These dedicated, patriotic veterans--the ones who work at the VA, the
ones who are served by the VA--are deeply disserved and damaged by
these actions. As Mr. Lipphardt said, finally: We need to stop the
bleeding. We need to, as he said, ``apply pressure and stop the
bleeding.''
I am joined on the Senate floor today by two of my colleagues who
have been integral to this fight, Senator Sanders and Senator
Duckworth, who will be calling for passage of their own resolutions
aimed at reversing damage from the Trump/Musk attacks on veterans.
I hope that our votes on these resolutions send a message. I hope we
will have unanimous support for my resolution and for theirs, that we
will keep faith with our veterans, and we will leave none of them
behind.
Madam President, first, I ask unanimous consent that the text of my
resolution be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Whereas, on February 13, 2025, the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, Doug Collins, announced the termination of 1,000
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (in this
preamble referred to as the ``Department'');
Whereas, on February 24, 2025, Secretary Collins terminated
an additional 1,400 employees of the Department;
Whereas, on March 4, 2025, a memorandum from the Department
announced the objective of the Department to return to 2019
end-strength staffing numbers;
Whereas reduction in force will result in approximately
83,000 additional employees terminated from employment with
the Department;
Whereas returning to 2019 staffing levels could mean firing
approximately 18,000 nurses, 10 percent of the police force
of the Department, 10,000 schedulers, and 30 percent of the
staff of the Veterans Benefits Administration;
Whereas the Department projects a 59 percent increase in
inpatient and outpatient mental health care demand from
fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2032;
Whereas, even prior to such attacks on the workforce of the
Department, the Department already suffered from critical
mental health staffing shortages;
Whereas actions attacking and decimating the workforce of
the Department will exacerbate such existing mental health
staffing challenges and further jeopardize the mental health
services veterans desperately need;
Whereas such actions are harming the trust of veterans in
the Department and harming the ability of the Department to
recruit and retain a mental health care workforce;
[[Page S2490]]
Whereas the mass terminations of employees of the Federal
Government are damaging the mental health and economic
security of veterans and their families; and
Whereas veterans and employees of the Department have
expressed concerns regarding the effect of terminations and
attacks on the mental health workforce already carried out by
the Department, including--
(1) terminating employees of the Veterans Crisis Line
established under section 1720F(h) of title 38, United States
Code;
(2) requiring employees of the Veterans Crisis Line to take
calls in open cubicles intended for claims processors of the
Veterans Benefits Administration;
(3) forcing mental health staff to conduct counseling
sessions while in open cubicles;
(4) cutting or postponing suicide prevention training
courses;
(5) terminating employees performing critical research at
the Department on mental health and substance use disorders
among veterans;
(6) cancelling employee assistance program and mental
health support contracts for employees of the Department;
(7) terminating staff of Vet Centers (as defined in section
1712A(h) of title 38, United States Code); and
(8) an increase in call volume on the Veterans Crisis Line
from veterans who were terminated from the Federal workforce,
or who are concerned about losing their health care and
benefits: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) actions taken by President Trump and Elon Musk are
negatively impacting mental health care and suicide
prevention for veterans and should be condemned; and
(2) all mental health and suicide prevention efforts at the
Department of Veterans Affairs should be fully staffed and
resourced.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. As if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule
XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the
consideration of my resolution, which is at the desk. Further, I ask
unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be
agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid
upon table with no intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. MORAN. Madam President, reserving the right to object, clearly,
this is an important issue and one that has received attention by the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs and will continue to make certain that
the decisions that are made by Department officials and by the
administration are compatible with the well-being and best interests of
those who served our Nation and are now veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs does need reform. The status quo
is not acceptable. We need to make certain that every veteran, every
member of our military who is now a veteran and seeks services in the
Department of Veterans Affairs, that their needs are met.
It has been a longtime goal of mine to make certain that the promises
that were made to those who served are promises that are kept. We know
things aren't as they should be at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
All of us in this Senate have staff members who work on cases--what
we call casework--to try to solve the challenges that a veteran meets
in dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
We all walk the streets of our home States. We have meetings and have
conversations with those. And, often, it is a veteran who comes to tell
us the story of what help they still need.
While I continue to believe that nearly everyone--most who work at
the Department of Veterans Affairs, many of whom are veterans
themselves, are working diligently to make sure their colleagues--
veterans they shared that service with--are treated in a fashion that
provides them with the best quality care and provides them with the
benefits they have earned. Yet we know the system is still far from
being able to accomplish that goal.
In fact, the Department of Veterans Affairs--so many times, we have
reports from the inspector general, who outlined dramatic changes that
need to be made and outlined instances in which the Department of
Veterans Affairs has failed in significant ways in meeting the needs of
those who served our Nation.
We have about 150-, 200,000 veterans in Kansas. They are a
significant component of the nature of our State. They are respected
and admired by their fellow Kansans. It is important for us to make
sure that the Department of Veterans Affairs is living up to its
commitment. It is our job as Senators and it is our job as members of
the Committee on Veterans' Affairs to do those things.
The Senator from Connecticut is right. We have provided the tools to
the Department, new opportunities for veterans to be better served and
served in more ways--combating suicide; making sure that mental health
services are more readily available; providing services through
telemedicine; and most recently--well, almost most recently--the PACT
Act, which provided new and additional benefits, both healthcare and
financial, to those who served in Southeast Asia and served in Iraq and
Afghanistan in regard to toxic exposure; and even more recently than
that, care for and support for caregivers, those who serve their loved
ones, family members who help veterans throughout the day in their
circumstances--the Elizabeth Dole Act.
So we are actively engaged in trying to make certain and hopefully
making progress in making certain that more veterans receive better
care at every opportunity. But the VA still needs a serious and
thorough evaluation, and a component of that is workforce.
My goal is to make certain that the Department of Veterans Affairs
evaluates how many people it needs to meet its mission and then adjusts
accordingly, whether that is more or less, but to right-size the VA to
make certain that those veterans who are in need of care, who deserve
their benefits, are well cared for and receive the care and compassion
they deserve.
So I am going to offer a resolution myself, and in order to get to
that point, I need to object to the Senator from Connecticut's
resolution--his unanimous consent request.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I want to respond very quickly by
saying, first of all, I think we share a lot of goals, but we need
action. The VA is in crisis impending right now, in real time,
affecting real lives in real time, people who need mental health care
now, who need the Veterans Crisis Line now, who need those counselors
and psychiatrists now.
What I am asking is unanimous consent for a resolution that calls for
restoring the VA workforce to meet that crisis and to doing right by
our veterans. It shouldn't be partisan. It isn't partisan.
I have been critical of the VA under Democratic administrations,
under General Shinseki when he was there and the delays were
unacceptable, and nobody was more direct or critical than I was.
We can be bipartisan in our praise and in our criticism, but we need
to stand up to the Musk-Trump slash-and-trash regime that has been so
harmful to our veterans. And we can't go about it with business as
usual. These draconian, indiscriminate cuts are doing harm to our
veterans as we speak, and to avoid action is not only inappropriate, it
is injustice to our Nation's heroes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.