March 30, 2025

Duckworth, Budzinski Meet with Local Veterans and Metro East VSO Leaders to Discuss Trump’s Ongoing Attacks on the Veteran Community

 

[BELLEVILLE, IL] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of both the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC) and Armed Services (SASC)—and U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13)—a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs—today met with leaders and members from local Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) in Metro East, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. During their meeting, Duckworth and Budzinski discussed how the Trump Administration is continuing to inflict needless pain and chaos on the Veteran community through VA layoffs, illegal pauses in federal funding and cuts to Veteran care. Photos of the meeting can be found on the Senator’s website.

“By working to destroy the VA, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are putting the wants of billionaires before the needs of our heroes,” said Duckworth. “Trump and Musk are jeopardizing life-saving care and firing more Veterans than any other Administration in history in order to carve out tax cuts for billionaires. It’s a complete betrayal of our Veterans and their life of service. Together, Congresswoman Budzinski and I will keep pushing back and advocating for our heroes here in Illinois and across the nation.”

"I am honored to represent over 40,000 veterans in my district. Many of these brave men and women have served this nation not once, but twice—first in uniform, and now at the VA. Unfortunately, this administration has set an alarming record by firing more veterans than ever before, jeopardizing their livelihoods, and risking the essential services that so many veterans depend on,” said Budzinski. “Today, I joined Senator Duckworth to hear directly from Illinois veterans on how they are feeling and share what we are doing back in Washington. I hope this fireside chat reassured them that in both the House and Senate, Illinois’ leaders are fighting for them."

Earlier this month, Duckworth and Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced their Protect Veteran Jobs Act—that would reinstate Veterans who were fired from their jobs as part of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate purge of federal employees. Duckworth and Kim’s bill is the Senate companion to legislation introduced in the House by U.S. Representative Derek Tran (D-CA-45), H.R. 1637. In addition to reinstating Veterans impacted by Trump and Musk’s mass federal layoffs, the legislation would also require the Trump Administration to report to Congress on a quarterly basis the Veterans who have been removed from federal employment and provide justification for their removal.

In February, Duckworth joined VoteVets for an emergency national town hall to call out Donald Trump and Elon Musk for inflicting needless pain and chaos on our nation’s Veterans. During the town hall, Veterans who have been fired by Elon Musk’s DOGE bravely came forward—for the first time—to share how Trump’s cuts and layoffs have uprooted their lives. Duckworth pledged to continue advocating for our nation’s heroes and pushing back against the Trump Administration’s harmful policies and employee purges that are leaving Veterans jobless and jeopardizing their access to critical VA care and benefits.

Approximately two weeks ago, Senate Republicans voted against an amendment version of Duckworth and Kim’s Protect Veteran Jobs Act. Veterans make up more than 30 percent of the federal workforce and it is estimated that Trump and Musk have already fired more than 6,000 men and women who have served in uniform.

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