Senate Democrats disclosed plans Monday to hold unofficial “shadow” hearings starting in April to examine the mass firings at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the impact on veterans’ services and benefits.

Lawmakers are pushing again to overturn a federal law that stops combat-injured veterans with less than 20 years of service from collecting their full retirement pay when they qualify for disability compensation.

Most of the fired workers, including thousands from the Department of Veterans Affairs, are being reinstated and then placed on paid administrative leave as President Donald Trump’s administration appeals dual court rulings in Maryland and California.

Veterans seeking transgender-related medical treatments “will have to do so on their own dime,” Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said Monday, as he announced an end to health coverage for gender dysphoria.

Veterans waved American flags and speakers rallied support for the 30,000 federal workers fired by the Trump administration. Some speakers represented self-described progressive groups, but many veterans who attended said their participation had nothing to do with political affiliation.

Judge William Alsup found the Office of Personnel Management lacked the authority to direct six federal agencies, including the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, to fire their new employees. He ordered that any future terminations must be conducted by the agencies themselves.

The bill from Sen. Jerry Moran, the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, would represent the first effort by a Republican lawmaker to place limits on a directive to significantly decrease federal jobs and programs.

Democratic lawmakers lodged protests this week over the purge of veterans from the VA and other federal jobs and submitted bills to give veterans their jobs back. More than 6,000 veterans have lost their jobs in firings that started in February and are expected to continue through the summer. 

Doug Collins, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, defended the mass firing of VA workers last month as the Trump administration’s solution to making the agency more accountable and responsive to veterans.

In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected an argument by two veterans that the VA had a duty to grant their claims for PTSD when the evidence showed the decision to be a close call. The decision supported the findings of the VA claims specialists who denied the veterans disability claims.