Official Summaries

This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the mass terminations of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs should be condemned. The resolution also expresses that all affected employees should be reinstated.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 105 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 105

  Condemning the mass terminations of employees of the Department of 
 Veterans Affairs carried out with no justification or analysis of the 
                 impact on veterans and their families.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 4, 2025

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mr. Hickenlooper, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Slotkin, 
 Mr. Lujan, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Warnock, Ms. 
 Klobuchar, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Rosen, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. 
Alsobrooks, Mr. Kelly, Ms. Warren, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Baldwin, 
 Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Peters, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Sanders, 
Mr. Booker, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Warner, Ms. Smith, 
  Mr. Padilla, and Mr. Heinrich) submitted the following resolution; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Condemning the mass terminations of employees of the Department of 
 Veterans Affairs carried out with no justification or analysis of the 
                 impact on veterans and their families.

Whereas veterans make up approximately 30 percent of the Federal workforce, 
        including nearly 26 percent of the workforce of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs and 45 percent of the workforce of the Department of 
        Defense;
Whereas more than 642,000 veterans are continuing their public service through 
        careers in the Federal Government;
Whereas veterans bring invaluable experience, including technical expertise, 
        training, security clearances, and commitment to service, to their work 
        as Federal employees;
Whereas, on February 13, 2025, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs, Doug Collins, announced the termination of 1,000 employees of 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs;
Whereas, on February 24, 2025, Secretary Collins terminated an additional 1,400 
        employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs;
Whereas United States Senators have, in pursuit of their oversight duties, 
        attempted to obtain detailed information from the Department of Veterans 
        Affairs regarding these terminations, including any analysis of the 
        impacts on veterans, confirmation that the terminations did not affect 
        essential services like call centers, homeless programs, mental health 
        care, transition assistance, claims processing, tribal health, and 
        veterans education benefits, involvement of unelected, unauthorized, 
        non-Department of Veterans Affairs personnel in the decisionmaking 
        process, and how much the Department of Veterans Affairs spent 
        recruiting and hiring these employees and will now spend covering their 
        workloads, but have yet to receive that information;
Whereas the mass terminations of employees of the Federal Government are 
        damaging the economic security and morale of veterans and their 
        families;
Whereas these terminations are harming the trust of veterans in the Department 
        of Veterans Affairs, and harming the ability of the Department to 
        recruit and retain employees;
Whereas gainful employment and economic security is a chief social determinant 
        of health; and
Whereas veterans and employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs have 
        expressed concerns regarding the effect of these terminations, 
        including--

    (1) the suspension of service lines, beds, and operating rooms at 
hospitals and clinics of the Department;

    (2) the cancellation or postponement of mammogram and other time-
sensitive appointments;

    (3) the reduction of support lines for caregivers;

    (4) the termination of Veterans Crisis Line employees;

    (5) the termination of employees performing critical research at the 
Department;

    (6) the termination of cyber security personnel protecting websites of 
the Department; and

    (7) the termination of Vet Center staff: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) mass terminations of employees at the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs carried out with no justification or analysis 
        of the impact on veterans and their families should be 
        condemned; and
            (2) all affected employees should be reinstated.
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