Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., speaks at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Jan. 17, 2025. (Ben Curtis/AP)

WASHINGTON — A Senate confirmation hearing for three nominees to assume leadership posts at the Department of Veterans Affairs was derailed Tuesday after Sen. Ruben Gallego announced his intention to block a vote on the Senate floor unless the VA reconsiders a plan to fire 83,000 workers.

Gallego, D-Ariz., said during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing that he intends to hold all future nominees for VA leadership roles in an effort to force the agency to drop plans for widespread terminations planned for the summer.

“I will hold all nominees moving forward. A cut of 83,000 employees means 83,000 opportunities missed to help veterans,” said Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq. “I cannot live with that on my conscience. What is the message we are sending to future employees? We were hiring more people to meet greater demand for care and benefits. Now we are firing these same men and women.”

Questions from Democratic senators during the two-hour confirmation hearing focused on the agency’s plans to terminate thousands of workers.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., concurred with Gallego and said he would join the hold, a procedure that allows one or more senators to block a motion from reaching a vote.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, declared he would vote against the three nominees over his objections about how the VA is being run and the agency’s refusal to disclose its plans for future job terminations to the committee.

“We’ve had 2,400 firings so far. Most of the [termination] letters folks got cited ‘performance’ with no basis whatsoever,” King said. “And then we received information that the VA will fire 83,000 people over the next six months. But this committee has received no communication defining the plan, how people will be chosen or the impacts of the termination.”

Gallego said he recently learned the Phoenix VA Health System in Arizona will cut its staff by 15%. He predicted the reductions will delay medical appointments and the delivery of benefits.

He said he plans to stick with his plan for all future nominees “until veterans are shown to be harmless.”

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the committee chairman, promised to schedule a committee hearing this month to discuss the nominations and deliberate over the senators’ objections.

Nominated by President Donald Trump, the three candidates under consideration are slated to fill key positions at the VA.

Retired Army Capt. Samuel Brown is tapped as undersecretary for memorial affairs. If confirmed, Brown will oversee the National Cemetery Administration, which operates and maintains 156 national cemeteries.

James Baehr, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, was selected as VA general counsel. A military judge, Baehr deployed to the Middle East in 2018. He previously served at the White House Domestic Policy Council as special assistant to the president.

Army veteran Richard Topping has been picked to be the VA’s chief financial officer. Topping served as chief executive officer at a health care insurance plan that covers people with complex conditions and specialized medical needs. He formerly was a captain assigned to the 1st Battalion,10th Special Forces Group, with deployments to Afghanistan and throughout Europe.

At Tuesday’s confirmation hearing, the nominees were pressed by some committee members to disclose their views of the mass firings across the federal government in February, including at the VA.

Each declined to criticize the Trump administration or VA Secretary Doug Collins.

Baehr said he could not comment on the circumstances of the firings because they are the subject of litigation. He also said later in the hearing, “as an individual who uses VA services and benefits, I want to see the VA improve and would advise the [VA] secretary on his path.”

Topping said it is his understanding that Collins has a baseline figure for a workforce reduction. He said Collins is seeking input from leaders so veterans’ services and benefits are unaffected.

Brown told the committee that he does not have firsthand knowledge of operations at the National Cemetery Administration or the impact of workforce reductions. But he pledged to make honoring the lives of veterans his focus and mission.