May 07, 2025

Duckworth Introduces Bills to Help Protect Lifesaving Veterans Crisis Line and Restore Collective Bargaining Rights for VA Health Care Professionals

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC)—is introducing two bills that would help protect our nation’s devoted VA workers, including nurses, physicians, Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) workers as well as the Veterans they serve against the Trump Administration’s ongoing attacks and harmful cuts. A day after she made it clear to VA Secretary Collins that his work to rehire VCL workers is not complete, Senator Duckworth is introducing the Protecting Veterans in Crisis Act to help safeguard this lifeline for the brave Veterans who depend on it by increasing transparency and strengthening Congress’s oversight of it. Duckworth is also introducing the VA Employee Fairness Act to empower VA health care professionals with the protections needed to speak out about disruptions and advocate for the Veterans they serve as Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s VA cuts continue to jeopardize care.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate mass layoffs and funding cuts have hollowed out our VA workforce—needlessly hurting nurses, physicians and Veterans Crisis Line workers without thinking twice about the harmful impact on our Veterans,” said Senator Duckworth. “Whether VA Secretary Collins continues to weaken the Veterans Crisis Line program—or follows through on his promise to fix his mistake of firing of Veterans Crisis Line staff—the bottom line is this: Secretary Collins should transparently report VCL personnel and performance data to Congress. The American people deserve to judge for themselves whether Secretary Collins is actually fulfilling his claims to restore VCL resources—and Congress must be able to hold the Trump Administration accountable if it fails to do so.”

“This Administration cannot continue to slash and burn the VA in the dark. As DOGE cuts continue, it’s as urgent as ever that Congress empowers VA health care professionals with the same bargaining rights and protections as other federal employees so they can speak out freely against any problems or challenges they’re enduring at this critical time for the VA.”

The Protecting Veterans in Crisis Act would expand congressional oversight of the Veterans Crisis Line, improve workforce protections for all VCL personnel and help ensure the best performance standards are maintained in order to fulfill the VCL’s mission in serving Veterans in crisis. Specifically, the legislation would require:

    • A 48-Hour Notification of Pending Termination: Ensuring the VA Secretary notifies Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees 48 hours prior to the termination of any VCL employee, including whether the employee is a Veteran or military spouse.
    • A Report on VCL Personnel: Ensuring the VA Secretary submits a report to the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees and Appropriations Committees on personnel data and specifics about the role that the terminated worker served at the VCL.
    • A Report on VCL Operations and Performance: Ensuring the VA Secretary submits a monthly report to Congress assessing the VCL’s performance. This includes average wait times for callers and the volume of unanswered calls, caller-to-operator ratios, in-person to remote, resources used, staffing report broken down by job category and more.
    • A GAO Report on Improvements to the VCL: Ensuring a GAO investigation on operations and performance of the VCL. This would allow GAO to recommend improvements due no later than 180 days after enactment of the bill.

The VA Employee Fairness Act—co-led by U.S. Representative and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Mark Takano (D-CA-39)—would restore collective bargaining rights to VA health care professionals, including registered nurses, physicians, optometrists, chiropractors and others. Currently, Section 7422 of Title 38 USC restricts the ability of these workers to speak freely about poor working conditions and resolve disputes with management. As a result, the quality of patient care has often deteriorated as problems in VA facilities go unaddressed.

“VA healthcare employees work tirelessly to provide high-quality care to our nation's veterans and their families. The VA Employee Fairness Act would grant these indispensable workers the collective bargaining rights they deserve and have been fighting for while improving VA employee retention. Passing this bill is the right thing to do. This legislation is more critical than ever, given the Administration's efforts to fire VA employees and make cuts that continue to diminish VA employee morale,” said Ranking Member Takano. 

Along with Duckworth, the legislation is cosponsored in the Senate by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA). The legislation was previously led by U.S. Senator Brown of Ohio.

Along with Takano, the legislation is cosponsored in the House by U.S. Representatives Terri Sewell (D-AL-07), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34), Linda Sanchez (D-CA-39), Maxine Waters (D-CA-35), Scott Peters (D-CA-52), Juan Vargas (D-CA-51), Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), John Larson (D-CT-01), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-AL), Max Frost (D-FL-10), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20), Lucy McBath (D-GA-07), Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13), Frank Mrvan (D-IN-01), Seth Moulton (D-MA-06), Stephen Lynch (D-MA-08), William Keating (D-MA-09), Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05), Rashia Tlaib (D-MI-12), Herb Conaway (D-NJ-03), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), Tim Kennedy (D-NY-26), Brendan Boyle (D-PA-02), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-05), Gabe Amo (D-RI-01), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37), Jennifer Mccellan (D-VA-04), Adam Smith (D-WA-09), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04), Morgan McGarvey (D-KY-03), Rick Larsen (D-WA-02), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), Suhas Subramayan (D-VA-10), Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), Joe Morelle (D-NY-25), Jared Golden (D-ME-02), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Judy Chu (D-CA-32), Steven Horsford (D-CA-32), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA-10), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Haley Stevens (D-MI-11), Val Hoyle (D-OR-04), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Pat Ryan (D-NY-18), Mark Pocan (D-WI-02), Shontel Brown (D-OH-11), Mike Thompson (D-CA-04), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Dan Goldman (D-NY-10), Sanford Bishop (D-GA-02), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Julie Johnson (D-TX-32), Sri Thaneder (D-MI-13), Maxine Dexter (D-OR-03), Sarah McBride (D-DE-AL), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02), Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Andrea Salinas (D-OR-06), Chris Pappas (D-NH-01) and Grace Meng (D-NY-06).

The legislation is endorsed by National Nurses United (NNU), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of Labor (AFL), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), VoteVets and Union Veterans Council of AFL-CIO.

“By granting VA nurses the ability to bargain collectively on issues related to patient care, the VA Employee Fairness Act would make the VA a safer place both for nurses and our veterans,” said Irma Westmoreland, RN, and chair of Veterans Affairs for National Nurses United. “VA nurses are fierce advocates for veterans, and restoring their full union rights empowers them as they fulfill this most sacred duty. Nurses will never abandon their patients, and they will continue to fight for the best care for our nation’s veterans.”

The bill text of the Protecting Veterans in Crisis Act and the VA Employee Fairness Act is available on Senator Duckworth’s website.

Duckworth has been a fierce leader and advocate for VA staff and Veteran Crisis Line (VCL) workers in the wake of the disastrous Trump-Musk layoffs at the VA. Last week, Duckworth slammed a senior official from the VA after he failed to publicly commit to rehiring VCL workers who were wrongfully fired in Trump-Musk layoffs. After the first VA purge laid off workers with the VCL—including several Veterans—Duckworth successfully pushed the Trump Administration to reinstate these devoted public servants that work to support our Veterans in their darkest moments.

Additionally, Duckworth and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) are leading the push for the Protect Veteran Jobs Act, legislation that would reinstate the thousands of Veterans who were fired in the Trump-Musk layoffs. Duckworth and Kim subsequently introduced their legislation as an amendment to Republicans’ slush fund continuing resolution. Republicans shamefully blocked it from passing.

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