WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jack Reed is teaming up with Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA), the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (Milcon-VA), to demand answers on how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will ensure veterans receive the health care and benefits they earned amidst the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate firing of recently hired VA employees.

Senators Reed and Ossoff were joined by Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) in pressing VA Secretary Doug Collins for answers after the Department fired doctors, nurses, and crisis hotline staff, despite the agency claiming otherwise.

“VA recently announced the firing of ‘more than 1,000 employees’ and claimed in its press release that ‘mission-critical positions’ were exempt. This claim is false. Clinicians, researchers, and Veterans Crisis Line employees were fired, apparently solely on the basis that they were recent hires,” the Senators wrote.

“We hope it goes without saying that clinical staff who provide medical care and employees who field calls from suicidal veterans are indeed ‘mission-critical,’” Senator Reed and the group continued. “VA’s indiscriminate termination of such personnel is self-defeating and risks the immediate disruption of veterans’ health care and services. The potential consequences — delayed clinical appointments or neglected phone calls from veterans in crisis — could be life threatening.”

As part of the inquiry, Senator Reed and the group requested specific answers from Secretary Collins about the locations, positions, and veteran status of staff impacted by the Trump Administration’s Hiring Freeze Executive Order and mass firings, in order to determine whether veterans in Rhode Island will be impacted by the actions.

Additionally, the Senators asked for data on the termination of VA researchers who were in active and ongoing clinical trials for veterans dealing with cancer, burn pit exposure, opioid addiction, and more.  

Earlier this month, Senator Reed joined colleagues in pressing Secretary Collins to protect veterans, their families, and VA staff from unprecedented access to sensitive information by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The VA’s mission is to help veterans successfully transition to civilian life and assists them in their post-service journey by ensuring they have access to the benefits they earned.  The VA offers veterans and their families a wide range of services, including healthcare, housing, education, training, disability compensation and pension assistance, and more.

Read the full text of the letter here.