[link removed] [[link removed]] John,
I just testified before the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations to call out the ways that President Trump’s actions during his first weeks in office could harm American veterans by undermining oversight and accountability at the VA.
[link removed] [[link removed]]In his very first week in office, Trump illegally fired inspectors general across 17 different federal agencies. That mass firing included the inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Michael Missal, who had been lauded by members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.
The VA is one of the largest federal agencies tasked with a variety of functions—from administering pensions, insurance, and home loans for veterans, to running the Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated healthcare network in the United States. It’s no easy task to run such a large agency. Ensuring robust oversight and accountability for the agency is absolutely critical.
That’s why the VA’s Office of Inspector General is such an important role. The IG provides oversight to help the VA fulfill its mission and to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse in the agency.
In fiscal year 2024 alone, Missal’s office issued “a total of 316 reports and 1,106 recommendations” and made a monetary impact of nearly $6.8 billion amounting to “a return on investment of $28:1.” The office also did impactful work to address veteran suicides and improve health outcomes for veterans and military families.
But despite that staggering impact and bipartisan praise, Trump unceremoniously fired Missal—along with more than a dozen other independent agency inspectors general.
John, let’s be clear about this: these IGs appear to have been fired without cause and that suggests that they may have been fired to stifle oversight of the new administration.
Missal’s ouster certainly did not benefit any veterans or military families. Instead, attacking the IG and the civil servants who provide veterans’ services hinders the agency from carrying out its important mission and makes the VA more susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.
If these kinds of attacks continue from the Trump administration, they will harm all Americans, especially veterans, and that’s exactly what I told Congress today.
Trump's purge of inspectors general is an urgent threat to independent oversight. CREW is going to continue to bring light to this issue, and take on Trump’s lawlessness head-on. If you can, please support our work with a donation today → [[link removed]]If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your tax deductible donation will go through immediately to ActBlue Charities Inc. and be disbursed to CREW within 30 days:
Donate $5 → [[link removed]]
Donate $25 → [[link removed]]
Donate $50 → [[link removed]]
Donate $100 → [[link removed]]
Donate $250 → [[link removed]]
Other → [[link removed]]
Thank you,
Donald Sherman
Executive Director
CREW
Make sure this email goes to your inbox. Add
[email protected] to your address book.
Email is a key way for us to stay in touch and make sure you get the latest updates from our campaign. But if you would like to unsubscribe, click here [[link removed]] .
Sign up to receive our messages straight to your phone! This is the best and fastest way to support CREW's work. Text 'JOIN' to 40234 to get updates. Txt STOP 2 end, HELP 4 help.
If you'd like to donate to support our efforts, please click here → [[link removed]]
© Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington 2020–2023
CFC 42218
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
PO Box 14596
Washington, DC 20044
United States
