Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is demanding answers after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fired doctors, nurses, and crisis hotline staff.
Sen. Ossoff, Ranking Member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, led a group of Senators pressing VA Secretary Doug Collins for answers after the Department fired doctors, nurses, and crisis hotline staff amidst the indiscriminate mass firing of recently hired VA personnel, despite the agency claiming otherwise.
Sen. Ossoff is joined by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Gary Peters (D-MI).
“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,” Sen. Ossoff and the group 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,’” Sen. Ossoff 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, Sen. Ossoff 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 Georgia will be impacted by the actions.
They further 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.
Sen. Ossoff continues working to help Georgia veterans access the services they earned.
This month, Sen. Ossoff led a group of Senators pressing Secretary Collins to protect veterans, their families, and VA staff from unprecedented access to sensitive information by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”).
In January, Sen. Ossoff announced expanded benefits for thousands of Georgia veterans, including those battling bladder cancer, ureter cancer, other genitourinary cancers, acute and chronic leukemias, and multiple myeloma thanks to the bipartisan PACT Act he helped pass into law in 2022.
Sen. Ossoff also launched an inquiry with the U.S. Postmaster General after receiving reports from Georgia veterans that they are receiving prescriptions late and appointment notices after their scheduled appointments.
Click here to read the Senators’ letter to VA Secretary Collins.
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