Supporting Federal Workers

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the actions coming out of the White House are shocking, alarming, and unconstitutional. We have seen an unelected billionaire attempt to lay off, fire, and purge Federal employees from across the executive branch. No agency or department is safe, not even the department taking care of veterans.

As the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I have been quick to warn employees at the VA not to fall for the recent attempt from Musk to buy out employees. I have warned VA employees and providers. Elon Musk thinks they are stupid and won't see through his deceptive and fraudulent buyout offer.

VA employees should ignore his email and send it to the trash bin. The Trump administration is playing a dangerous game with their livelihoods and veterans' lives.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a mandate to ensure that veterans with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments can still apply and receive care. The Trump administration put an end to that mission to reach out to veterans with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments. He put an end to that mission in the fervor to get rid of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in Federal agencies.

Yes, diversity, equity, and inclusion include veterans with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments. So far, 60 employees with the mission of reaching out to these very veterans with unique challenges, to encourage them to apply for VA benefits, have been put on leave. They have been put on leave. We are talking about veterans with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments.

The Federal hiring freeze initiated on President Trump's first day in office has left approximately 700 open positions that cannot be filled. These are 700 opportunities to increase veterans' access to care that will instead stay unfilled.

What is even more shocking is that my Republican colleagues have stayed silent while veterans' care is being impacted by DOGE.

Mr. Speaker, I challenge my Republican colleagues who sit idly by to stand up to the richest man in the world. Stand up to this would-be autocrat. Stand up to this bloodless coup. Stand up for Federal workers and your constituents.

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