[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 132 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4963-S4964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Nomination of Cheryl Mason
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, as we know, inspectors general in our
Federal Agencies--and every Agency has one--have a really unique role
in our Federal Government. They are responsible for rooting out waste
and fraud, uncovering wrongdoing. They are supposed to be fearlessly
independent advocates of integrity, completely nonpartisan, and above
the political fray. And that is the role they have performed in our
government: saving millions--perhaps billions--of dollars in taxpayer
money, ending corruption at the highest levels, and performing a vital
experience for our democracy.
One of the very best of our inspectors general has been Mike Missal.
He was responsible for recovering more than $37 billion during his
tenure at the Veterans' Administration. He was the inspector general at
the VA under both Republican and Democratic administrations, widely
respected by both sides of the aisle. Republican colleagues have worked
with him, I have, and so have my colleagues on this side of the aisle.
He was performing with extraordinary excellence and integrity, until he
was fired without any cause, without any reason, by President Trump.
And he was not alone. In fact, the President illegally fired 18
inspectors general. I say ``illegally'' because they are protected by
statute. They can't just be fired willy-nilly without cause. And that
litigation will continue, but in the meantime, those 18 inspectors
general have been deprived of the opportunity to save us money, end
corruption, and protect the integrity of our democracy--18 of them,
nonpartisan, independent public servants.
Today, we consider Mike Missal's replacement, a woman named Cheryl
Mason, who, unfortunately, is one of the most partisan and least
independent of the nominees for inspector general positions that we
have seen in recent years.
We need now, more than ever, independent oversight in the VA. And so
to my friends, to veterans of America who may be wondering why I am
standing here urging a ``no'' vote on Cheryl Mason, just consider the
role of inspector general in the VA for you as veterans. When you have
a complaint about a VA facility--it has failed to give you appointments
on time for care--if you have a complaint against some VA claims
processor blowing you off, if you have a complaint about the system,
about the failures to provide compensation and care, the inspector
general is the one who vindicates justice for you.
Ultimately, we have an oversight function here in the U.S. Congress.
I am going to fight for you as your Senator, if you are from
Connecticut--or anywhere else. There are lots of different points where
oversight and advocacy can occur on your behalf.
But the inspector general is inside the VA and has access to all of
the documents, all of the information that are necessary to protect the
integrity of this Agency. And that person should be fearlessly
independent.
As a matter of fact, Cheryl Mason served on President Trump's
transition team, and then she has been, for the last 6 months, senior
adviser to Secretary Doug Collins, who himself has been a partisan, who
has dismantled the VA workforce, who has canceled contracts and
endangered care and compensation from the VA.
She was senior adviser when Secretary Collins illegally fired
thousands of VA employees, a quarter or a third of them veterans. He
fired them, and she was his senior adviser.
As adviser, we have to presume she aided him in implementing policies
that are expected to drive at least 30,000 public servants out of the
VA by the end of the year, while refusing to fill 40,000 vacancies that
have existed before he took that position.
Those 30,000 who will be out of the VA by the end of the year include
1,720 registered nurses, 600 doctors, 1,150 medical support assistance,
200 police officers, 80 psychologists, and more than 1,000 claims
examiners. Maybe we should be grateful the number isn't 83,000, which
was his plan, and she was his senior adviser for that plan.
She was a senior adviser when Secretary Collins began the process to
cancel or end more than 1,600 contracts providing direct services to
veterans or support for critical VA operation, including for suicide
prevention and mental health treatment, cancer registry, and inspection
of VA healthcare facilities. She was his senior adviser when Doug
Collins wanted to end the veterans' suicide crisis line, which
epitomized the cruelty and stupidity of those cuts in workforce, hiring
freezes, ends in contract.
And despite a formal request from myself and Senator Peters, the
Republican chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs refused to hold a hearing on the Mason nomination.
A hearing is customary for the nomination of inspectors general,
particularly one this controversial.
But we did have a hearing in the VA, and it was highly illuminating--
not for what we learned but for what she denied doing. Listen to her.
She continually avoided giving committee members any specific
information about her role in realigning the senior executives at the
VA or her role in the firing or reorganization or her role in requiring
employees to sign nondisclosure agreements or any of the substantive
work she has been doing as a political appointee. She denied any role
in the freezes, the firings, the elimination of contracts.
I said to her: Well, what have you been doing?
And we got no straight answer. She was evasive, and her evasiveness
was illuminating. She refused to commit to conducting any investigation
of employee terminations that were found illegal by the courts. She
refused to condemn President Trump's illegal firing of her predecessor
and other inspectors general.
She has a conflict of interest here. She served as a senior adviser
for 6 months while policies were devised and
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implemented that now she will have to review as a supposedly
independent inspector general.
When you, my fellow veterans, have complaints, that is not the kind
of advocate that you need. That is not the kind of investigator of
corruption or waste that the country deserves, and that is not what we
need from an inspector general in the VA. Veterans and taxpayers
deserve an independent, nonpartisan inspector general who will conduct
investigations free from interference and any collusion from the
administration. Someone who is accountable and transparent, someone who
comes forward candidly and forthrightly with the truth, not evading
questions that are posed by Senators or the public.
We simply cannot have faith that she is going to be the kind of
inspector general that our veterans deserve and the country needs at
this moment. We can't have faith that she will be unbiased in her
judgment relating to President Trump or Secretary Collins.
She is supposed to be judging them, but she is beholden to them, and
she has been part and parcel of the policies and actions of this
administration that have been so dangerous and damaging to the VA in
these past months.
Our veterans deserve better than a political loyalist who is going to
be rubberstamping those policies. Her confirmation, in fact, will
diminish the credibility of the office of inspector general at the VA
and in other Agencies as well.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this nomination. We can do
better. The country needs and deserves better. And maybe, most
important, our veterans need and deserve better.
I yield the floor.
(Mrs. BLACKBURN assumed the Chair.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagerty). The Senator from Missouri.