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Floor Speech

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Mr. SHEEHY. And I don't think there is any disagreement that we want the absolute best for our veterans-- combat or otherwise--and we will always do everything we can in this body to make sure that our veterans not only have the care they need when they get home, but they can pursue great careers for the next phase of life.

But truth also matters, and the truth is there was no outrage from our Democrat colleagues when the Biden administration summarily fired tens of thousands of veterans--Active-Duty servicemembers and reservists--from Federal contracting jobs and from Active-Duty military service without any due process, during the COVID pandemic, when they decided that these people, who had very legitimate reservations about their personal health, did not have a place in our government or military, and they were blowing out the side of the service.

No due process, not even a thank-you letter--they were kicked out of the service--highly trained patriots who fought for this country, who were willing to fight for this country again. That is betrayal. They were betrayed, and nothing was ever said from our Democratic colleagues about that.

The truth is, the VA--the VA, as an organization--is meant to serve our veterans. The purpose of the VA is to take care of veterans, not to grow its own bureaucracy. In the last 5 years since 2019, the VA employment has gone from 379,000 to 486,000 employees, over 5 years--a 28 percent increase--while the VA's budget grew by 77.7 percent during the same period.

During that time, the amount of veterans in our country decreased by 9.2 percent. So as our veteran population decreased, our employment overhead at the VA increased tremendously, and that reflected the similar growth across the rest of our Federal Government.

So what was going on for 5 years, especially during the COVID years, was artificial job creation by the government on a mass scale. And now, to recover our Nation from fiscal tragedy--from a $37 trillion debt and growing--we have to make hard choices, and those choices have to come down to what is working. And what veterans need most of all is a healthy government.

They fought to protect this country. They have put their lives on the line and sometimes gave away limbs and family members so that this country could be strong. We owe it to them to make sure we make good decisions and that this country continues to be strong. And that means we have to get this government back in order, and that means returning our Agencies back to prepandemic size. And most veterans will support those tough decisions full-throatedly.

The truth is, President Trump is very pro-veteran. His policies, right now, are putting our servicemembers first. He is showing strength on the world stage instead of weakness, which has brought untold tragedy not just on our military but also on our allies around the world.

Growing the government with no end in sight, growing Agencies with no metric for success is not pro-veteran. That is not pro-American. It is just more government.

And the truth is, whether it is the VA or any other Federal Agency, we are proud to have veterans working in this government across the board. They have preferred hiring rights, as they should, and we are going to protect their important jobs and, most importantly, protect their care when they get out. But the VA has to be a healthy, functioning organization for that to occur, as do other Agencies.

Veteran employment is a core value that we have in our Federal workforce. President Trump knows that. This body knows that, and we will protect it. But we also owe those veterans a strong, efficient government. That is what we are going to deliver to them. That is what we are going to do today.

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