Bernie Sanders Goes All In Against Trump and Musk Over Putting Veterans First Act"

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13/3/2025

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00:00Thank you, Senator Blumenthal, and thank you for your great work as the ranking member

00:04and your authorship of this important legislation.

00:11As Senator Blumenthal just mentioned, despite progress under the Biden administration in

00:18the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024, the VA reported over 36,000 vacancies at the Veterans

00:29Health Administration, including 2,400 doctors, 6,300 registered nurses, 1,800 social workers,

00:403,400 schedulers, and 1,200 custodians.

00:45In other words, the agency was already short-staffed.

00:52Yet as we speak, Elon Musk and Donald Trump are trying to dismantle the VA by laying off

00:59an additional 83,000 employees.

01:05Despite today's court decision, they have already fired 2,500 probationary employees

01:11at the VA, many of them disabled veterans themselves.

01:17All across our country, people are shaking their heads, and they're asking, how does

01:25it happen that the wealthiest person in the world, a guy worth hundreds of billions of

01:32dollars, is making life more difficult, is sacrificing the health and well-being of veterans

01:40of this country, the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us?

01:47But it's not just Americans all over the country.

01:50The veterans community itself, representing millions of people who put the uniform on,

01:57they're asking the same questions.

02:00And that is why the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the VFW, has recently said, and I quote,

02:06we call upon VA to reconsider its planned reduction of 83,000 employees and thoroughly

02:16review any proposed cuts before rolling out further announcements like this.

02:21End of quote.

02:22I agree with the VFW.

02:25The paralyzed Veterans of America said that they are, quote, deeply troubled by actions

02:33taken, by actions being taken in Washington, D.C. that are already having a detrimental

02:41impact on the services that veterans with spinal cord injuries and diseases like ALS

02:47and MS rely upon.

02:49End of quote.

02:51The disabled American veterans said, quote, we are extremely concerned about the leaked

02:57proposal to arbitrarily eliminate 80,000 VA employees.

03:04Our hearts are with the many veterans who are or will be losing their jobs.

03:10We worry about service-disabled veterans with small businesses who may be devastated

03:15by canceled contracts, particularly if they impact services to our community.

03:21But foremost, we are concerned for the veterans who are contacting us with fear and anxiety

03:27about the future of the benefits, services, and healthcare they rely on.

03:33That is what the Veterans Organizations of America are saying.

03:37And let us not forget, as Senator Blumenthal mentioned, nearly 900,000 civilian federal

03:44employees are either veterans' spouses or spouses of active military members, representing

03:5130 percent of the entire federal government workforce.

03:56An estimated 6,000 veterans have been fired across the entire federal workforce so far,

04:02and more are likely to be fired if we don't take a stand.

04:08In defending these layoffs, the VA has stated that the personnel moves will save the department

04:14more than $181 million a year.

04:18$181 million.

04:19Well, guess what?

04:21The Trump administration, as we speak, is proposing to provide the wealthiest people

04:27in this country with over $1 trillion in tax breaks over a 10-year period.

04:34In other words, they are sacrificing the needs of veterans who put their lives on the line

04:40to defend our country in order to make billionaires like Elon Musk even richer.

04:47And that is a tradeoff that the American people, whether you're Republican, Democrat, or independent,

04:53do not support.

04:55So let us be clear.

04:56We have got to go forward in a bipartisan way, as Senator Blumenthal just said.

05:03This is not a Democrat issue.

05:04It's not a Republican issue.

05:06This is an American issue.

05:07Today, we tell Elon Musk that the people of America stand with the veterans, the heroes

05:14and heroines who defended us, and we're going to protect their interests.

05:21Well done.

05:22Senator Gallego.

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