March 14, 2025

Duckworth, Kim Slam Senate Republicans for Voting Against Giving Veterans Their Jobs Back After They Were Fired in Trump-Musk Mass Layoffs

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC)—and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) issued the following statement slamming Senate Republicans for voting against an amendment version of their Protect Veteran Jobs Actlegislation that would reinstate Veterans who were fired from their jobs as part of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate purge of federal employees:

“Senate Republicans love to say they support our nation’s Veterans on Fox News, but every single one of them just voted against giving our heroes their jobs back,” said Senators Duckworth and Kim. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk are firing more Veterans than any Administration in modern history, and now Senate Republicans are on the record supporting their stunningly cruel betrayal of thousands of men and women who served in uniform and chose to continue serving their country in the federal workforce. Shame on Senate Republicans for kicking our heroes to the curb—they own this vote and will have to answer for it.”

Duckworth and Kim introduced their Protect Veteran Jobs Act earlier this month. 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. 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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