In Rebuke of Trump Administration Attacks on Veterans, Senate Democrats Make Defending Veterans and VA Care a Priority at Joint Address

Senate Democrats’ guests at tonight’s speech to include veterans indiscriminately fired as part of the Trump Administration’s mass terminations of federal government employees and the former VA Inspector General illegally fired by Trump
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – In light of President Donald Trump’s mass termination of federal veteran employees and egregious attempts to slash Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) care and benefits, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and a group of Senate Democrats are hosting terminated federal veteran employees and former VA Inspector General Michael Missal at President Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress on Tuesday evening.
A full list of the Senators’ guests can be found below.

Last week, Blumenthal and Senate Democratscalled onPresident Donald Trump to cease his attack on our nation’s heroes and immediately reinstate all veterans who have been illegally fired in his Administration’s mass terminations of federal employees with their full back pay and benefits. Veterans make up 30% of the federal workforce, with 640,000 veterans working in federal agencies.
The Trump Administration’s mass terminations have already led to the unprecedented firing of an estimated 6,000 veterans. The Senators emphasized these terminations have been done in an “abrupt, inconsistent, unjustified, and unlawful way with no consultation with Congress and absolutely no transparency or accountability to the American people.” The Administration has not provided Congress with information detailing the exact number of veterans fired. In addition, many of these terminated employees had exemplary performance records and multiple years of work experience in government service.
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