Friend, 

We knew this was coming with the election of Donald Trump. Mass firings have swept through nearly the entire federal government. Not even our military, which has a history of being apolitical, has been spared.

The very top of our military leadership is being purged for perceived insufficient loyalty to Trump. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – dismissed. The chief of the U.S. Navy – dismissed. The chief of the U.S. Coast Guard – dismissed. The list goes on and on, demonstrating that leaders who have dedicated their lives to serving our nation and keeping us safe are not safe from Musk’s and Trump's personal vendettas.

I’ve been speaking out against these reckless cuts, and I’m continuing to look out for our veterans, as well. They – and we – are increasingly at risk. We all deserve better.

Not even military veterans within our nation's civil service have been spared by Trump and Musk. Bear in mind that military veterans make up fully one third of our civil service. In addition to the thousands of terminations across other departments, the thousands of Department of Veterans Affairs employees who have been “cut” are people who not only served our country but also carry out critical work at the department supporting veterans, including combatting veteran suicide. 

These poorly-planned and ill-considered firings come as the Department of Veterans Affairs is already facing critical staffing shortages and increased demand for services. To cut such a large number of talented and dedicated civil servants – in whom we have invested years of training, and many of whom had exemplary performance records and superior work experience in government service – demonstrates yet again how little Trump and Musk care about ordinary Americans and how little they understand best practices in managing and governing. These are just “keystrokes” on some minion’s laptop to them. The service these American heroes have given to their country counts for nothing.

I am committed to aiding veterans and putting their needs first. That's why, as the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I just led a group of 35 Democratic Senators demanding Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins immediately reinstate the employees terminated last week.

To politicize our military is a disgrace. To terminate our nation's veterans whose service is exemplary is a disgrace. And I will continue to fight the administration's disgraceful, damaging behavior every step of the way.

Sincerely,

Dick



--------

This email was sent to [email protected].

To unsubscribe from this email list, please click here: [link removed]

Paid for by Blumenthal for Connecticut

Blumenthal for Connecticut
1111 Summer Street
Suite 301
Stamford, CT 06905
United States