April 09, 2025

Senate Republicans Block Duckworth, Blumenthal and Sanders’ Resolutions to Condemn Trump-Musk Attacks on Veterans

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC)—SVAC Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and former SVAC Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called for unanimous consent on the Senate Floor to pass three resolutions that would condemn the Trump Administration’s egregious cuts and firings targeting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Veterans across the federal government. Senate Republicans blocked every single one of them. Video of Senator Duckworth’s remarks are available on her YouTube.

“Two power-hungry billionaires who never served a day of their lives in uniform are taking a chainsaw to the VA, jeopardizing Veterans’ care as well as firing Veterans by the thousands,” said Duckworth. “And, by blocking our resolutions that simply condemn these reckless actions today, Republicans are once again cheering on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s complete betrayal of our nation’s heroes. Republicans like to claim that they support our Veterans, but their actions tell a different story. Shame on Senate Republicans for continuing to kick more and more of our heroes to the curb—they own these votes and will have to answer for them.”

“The VA is in crisis. We need to take action for our Veterans and VA employees who are deeply disserved and damaged by the Trump and Musk cruel slash and trash regime,” said Blumenthal. “Yet, when my colleagues and I asked for unanimous consent to reverse these draconian and indiscriminate cuts—Republicans once again blocked our resolutions to restore the VA and federal Veteran workforce. Now more than ever, Veterans need assurances both parties will stand up to protect the benefits and health care they earned—especially the life-saving mental health care they rely on.”

“The VA is not perfect. It needs improvement. But the idea that you can lay off 83,000 employees and make the VA more efficient is absurd. It is disturbing to me that anyone who claims to support Veterans and the sacrifices they have made would object to this resolution,” said Sanders.

The Senators called for unanimous consent on the following resolutions, which were blocked by Senate Republicans:

  • Duckworth’s resolution to condemn the Trump and Musk assault on the federal workforce, and demand the immediate reinstatement of all Veteran federal employees illegally and indiscriminately fired since Trump took office.
  • Blumenthal’s resolution to condemn actions taken by Trump and Elon Musk negatively impacting Veterans’ mental health care and suicide prevention efforts, including the mass firing of VA employees serving Veterans. It also calls for all VA mental health care and suicide prevention efforts to be fully staffed and resourced—not the subject of additional cuts.
  • Sanders’ resolution to condemn and rescind Trump and Musk’s disastrous proposal to reduce the VA workforce to Fiscal Year 2019 levels by cutting 83,000 jobs.

Duckworth has consistently led efforts to stick up for our Veterans and push back on harmful policies and layoffs from the Trump Administration that are hurting our nation’s heroes.

Last month, Duckworth and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced their Protect Veteran Jobs Act, legislation that would reinstate the thousands of Veterans who were fired from their jobs as part of Trump and Musk’s indiscriminate purge of federal employees. When Duckworth and Kim subsequently introduced their legislation as an amendment to Republicans’ slush fund continuing resolution, Republicans shamefully blocked it from passing. Today marks the second time Republicans are on the record as being against restoring our heroes’ jobs.

In February, Duckworth joined Blumenthal and a group of 34 Democratic Senators calling on Department of VA Secretary Collins to immediately reinstate the more than 1,000 VA employees terminated earlier that month who serve Veterans and their families nationwide, including critical employees addressing Veteran suicide working at the Veterans Crisis Line.

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