Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaks during a rally outside the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — 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.
Doug Collins, the VA secretary, is invited to speak at the first shadow hearing, which is scheduled for April 2, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, when he announced plans for the informal hearings.
The shadow hearings are in response to the refusal by the Republican-led committee to recent petitions by Senate Democrats to schedule hearings on the layoffs, he said.
Other Democratic senators as well as independents on the VA committee are expected to attend the informal hearings, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the committee’s chairman, holds the authority to set the agenda, identifying the bills and issues that the committee will debate and act on at hearings.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., who is chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, refused last month to have members examine the mass layoffs, after Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., urged him to do so during an unrelated hearing with veterans service organizations.
After a heated exchange, Bost said he would take the request under advisement.
Veterans, terminated VA workers, contractors and union leaders also will participate in the shadow hearings, Democratic senators said. A room at the Capitol for the hearings is being reserved, according to Blumenthal’s office.
“Congress has an urgent oversight role in this moment of crisis for veterans. Now more than ever, we need to sound the alarm and hear directly from the veterans and VA employees impacted by [Elon Musk’s and President Donald Trump’s] heartless and heartbreaking cuts, freezes and firings,” Blumenthal said.
Other Democrats on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee are Patty Murray of Washington, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
Democratic senators have largely opposed the cuts to staff and programs at the VA and other agencies.
The VA fired approximately 1,400 probationary workers in February. Another 1,000 positions are vacant because of a hiring freeze. The VA also canceled hundreds of contracts with nonprofits that run community-based programs that assist veterans.
But Collins said the cutbacks at VA will make the behemoth agency, which employs more than 470,000 workers, operate more effectively for veterans.
“The union bosses, legacy media, even members of Congress who have complained for years about the VA not being efficient are now complaining when we’re actually trying to provide solutions,” he said.
Reductions at the VA are part of a larger downsizing of federal government ordered by Trump and executed by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Another 80,000 VA employees are expected to be terminated from their jobs in the summer, according to a leaked memo from the Office of Personnel Management, which acts as the human resources agency for the federal government.
Senate Democrats and several independent lawmakers are supporting legislation called the Putting Veterans First Act, which would reinstate fired veterans and military spouses to their VA jobs with back pay and benefits.
“When somebody puts his or her life on the line to defend this country, we keep the promises we made to those veterans,” said Sanders, who introduced the legislation with Blumenthal. “You do not balance the budget on the backs of those who defended this country.”
“Give our heroes their jobs back,” said Duckworth, who introduced similar legislation — the Protect Veteran Jobs Act — to restore the federal jobs of the approximately 6,000 veterans terminated across the government.
Approximately one-third of all federal workers are veterans, who receive preference in hiring under federal law.
