[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – In response to President Donald Trump’s mass terminations 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) today unveiled his Putting Veterans First Act—comprehensive legislation to protect veterans, military spouses, and VA employees indiscriminately targeted in the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts at VA and across the federal government.

“My proposed bill is a call to action at a moment of crisis for veterans. VA’s system of health care and benefits has been disastrously and disgracefully put on the chopping block by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Their heartless and heartbreaking cuts, freezes, firings, and other malign directives will destroy lives and livelihoods if unchecked. We must stop them.

“They are slashing and trashing the VA with their plans to further cut more than 80,000 VA employees and tens of thousands of veterans. The real life impacts of Trump and Musk’s harmful policies on our nation’s military and veteran community are undeniable and growing. These reckless actions are damaging the economic security and morale of our military and veteran families, the federal government’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality talent, and our national security. That’s why I am introducing comprehensive legislation to ensure our government reverses course and puts veterans first—not tax cuts for billionaires. Veterans and their families have willingly sacrificed everything for this country, and they deserve a government that treats them with the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Blumenthal.

Among its many provisions, Blumenthal’s Putting Veterans First Act would:

REINSTATE AND PROTECT MEMBERS OF THE VETERAN AND MILITARY COMMUNITY INDSCRIMINATLEY FIRED BY DOGE WORKING AS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

• Reinstates all veterans, military spouses, survivors, veteran caregivers, and members of the Guard and Reserves who worked in the federal government and all VA employees who were illegally fired, demoted, or suspended as part of the Trump Administration’s mass terminations with full backpay and benefits; and
• Protects veterans, military spouses, survivors, veteran caregivers, and members of the Guard and Reserves who are civil servants by preventing their inclusion in mass terminations and providing them additional due process protections.

PROTECT THE QUALITY OF VA CARE, BENEFITS, AND EMPLOYMENT

• Prevents VA from instituting a hiring freeze if it could result in increased costs to the Department;
• Bars the Department from closing, removing, or realigning offices or programs at VA that were authorized by Congress and prevents any closures without Congressional notification;
• Requires the VA Secretary to notify Congress, labor organizations representing Department employees, and impacted employees a year in advance of any changes to telework or remote work policies at VA, in response to Trump and VA’s draconian return to office policies;
• Requires VA to certify to Congress that for each removal of an employee from the Department under Reduction in Force efforts, the move will not impact delivery of care or benefits of veterans. This provision was drafted in direct response to VA’s disastrous plans to cut more than 80,000 employees leaked in a damning internal memo last week—which VA Secretary Collins continues to claim will have no impact on care and benefits, despite providing no evidence to support his claims; and
• Allows any employee who accepts a contract for deferred resignation offer, including Musk’s “Fork in the Road” offer, to rescind or nullify, without penalty, that contract up until their last day of employment.

INCREASE TRANSPARENCY AND OVERSIGHT OF VA STAFFING, CLAIMS BACKLOG, AND WAIT TIMES DATA

• Requires VA to answer questions from Congress within reasonable time limits to prevent infringement on Congress’ oversight authorities. The Trump Administration’s VA officials have not responded to more than 20 of Ranking Member Blumenthal’s requests for information and more than a dozen of letters. There are countless more unanswered letters and requests for information from Democratic and Republican lawmakers;
• Increases transparency around VA personnel information by improving existing staffing reports published by VA with data on positions within Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), National Cemetery Administration, Board of Veterans Appeals, and other offices within the Department;
• Requires VA to report to Congress regarding the number of VA research personnel who were terminated or had their period of employment reduced since January 20, 2025 and the research projects they were involved with. This is in direct response to the lack of information provided regarding DOGE’s cuts to VA research;
• Codifies VBA’s weekly report regarding the current VBA workload including totals for pending and backlogged compensation, pension, and education claims and requires it be published VA’s website; and
• Requires VA to publish wait times for private sector care (community care) publicly on its website similarly to its reporting on wait times for various types of care at VA.

PROTECT VETERANS’ PRIVATE DATA FROM DOGE AND UNELECTED BILLIONARIES

• Prohibits DOGE from accessing or altering any veteran or VA data, including health records, contracts, and financial data without meeting typical, appropriate qualifications and passing background and security checks;
• Requires deletion of any data obtain in violation of the above requirement; and
• Bars any policies related to DOGE that would harm veterans and their families served by VA.

DETERMINE THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF DOGE’S RECKLESS CANCELLATION OF CONTRACTS AT VA

• Requires VA to report to Congress quarterly on costs associated with policy changes prompted by DOGE and the Trump Administration, such as cancelling contracts, wrongfully terminating employees, and closing offices of the Department; and
• Requires a pause on efforts to cut and cancel VA contracts pending a full review and report to Congress on contracts that were cancelled, which contracts VA plans to restore, and overall impact to veterans' care and benefits. This was drafted in direct response to VA Secretary Collins’ reckless cancellation of hundreds of contracts providing direct services and care to veterans. Collins has yet to share the full list of cancelled contracts with Congress.

PROVIDE CRITICAL MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR FORMER AND CURRENT CIVIL SERVANTS

• Requires each agency to cover the costs of mental health care for any veterans, military spouses, survivors, veteran caregivers, and members of the Guard or Reserves they fire, demote, or suspend for three months; and
• Ensures each agency provides mental health counseling services to current federal employees and past employees for three months following their termination or suspension to the level they were at prior to the Trump Administration.

PROVIDE EMPLOYEMENT ASSISTANCE FOR MEMBERS OF THE VETERAN AND MILITARY COMMUNITY FIRED FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN TRUMP’S MASS TERMINATIONS

• Requires the President to provide employment assistance and opportunities for veterans, military spouses, survivors, veteran caregivers, and members of the Guard and Reserves who are fired, demoted, or suspended from civil service as part of his Administration’s mass firings; and
• Directs the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of Labor to utilize federal programs to increase hiring and training opportunities for the military and veteran community, in addition to developing partnerships in the private sector to support this effort.

Blumenthal will formally introduce this bill later this week. A link to the bill’s full section by section can be found HERE.

Veterans make up 30% of the federal workforce, with approximately 640,000 veterans working in federal agencies. For decades, Administrations of both parties have made hiring veterans and military spouses to work in the federal government a priority—including President Trump’s previous Administration. Just this week, an internal memo leaked the Trump Administration’s plans to cut more than 80,000 VA employees, which would include at least 20,000 veterans, who make up 25% of VA’s workforce.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Blumenthal has staunchly rebuked the Administration’s mass terminations of veterans and VA employees since day one. Ahead of President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress and in light of the President’s egregious attempts to slash VA employees and services, Blumenthal and a group of his Democratic colleagues took to the Senate floor last week to ask for unanimous consent to pass a resolution condemning the mass terminations of employees serving veterans and their families at VA and calling for those jobs to be reinstated. The resolution’s passage was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Last month, Blumenthal and a group of Senate Democrats also called on President 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. The Trump Administration’s mass terminations have already led to the unprecedented firing of more than an estimated 6,000 veterans. The Administration has refused to provide 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.