Washington – Arizona’s senator, Ruben Gallego, announced Tuesday that he will block the confirmation of the main leaders in the Department of Veterans Affairs, increasing the bets of the Democrats so that the Trump administration supports the plans to reduce the agency jobs that serves millions of military veterans.
Gallego, a veteran Democrat and Marines’ body, made the announcement only a few hours before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee had scheduled to hear the testimony of three nominees for those who are military veterans. He marked a significant escalation in the effort of the Democrats to counteract the plans of President Donald Trump to reduce federal agencies and a very partisan movement in a committee that has often been marked by cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.
“Talking with veterans, people with whom I served, in addition to seeing something that is happening in Arizona, I decided that any tool I have to fix the situation, I will use it. And this is one of the few tools that I have right now,” Galician told Associated Press.
The Holds, a maneuver sometimes used in the Senate, means that it is impossible for the camera to move quickly to confirm the nominees and potentially would have to tie hours or days of time to advance to each nominee.
California Senator Adam Schiff, another first -year Democrat, also announced Tuesday that he would block Trump’s candidate for the United States prosecutor in Washington, DC, Ed Martin. Schiff said on social networks that since he was appointed by the role on an interim way, Martin had been “threatening opponents, dismissing public servants and using their office to relax freedom of expression.”
In the VA, there are 13 positions confirmed by the Senate, according to the Association for Public Service. Two of them, the secretary of VA, Doug Collins, and Undersecretary Paul Lawrence, have already been confirmed. Trump has made nominations for five other positions, while six have not yet received a nominee.
Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, in 2023 contributed the promotions of hundreds of senior military officers to protest against the policy of the Pentagon about abortions, but under the pressure of his own party, he finally fell most of his blockade.
Gallego acknowledged that his decision entailed some risk. He said he had waited for collaboration with Collins, the secretary of the cabinet, and even voted for his confirmation. But since then, he said he has fought to obtain responses from the VA leadership.
The VA is in the midst of plans to reduce its workforce by more than 80,000 people. That would lead to the 2019 personnel levels of just under 400,000, before it had to provide benefits to veterans affected by burning wells and exposure to other toxins under the Law of Pact 2022.
“Imagine how much the veterans would be better if the legislators as the Galician senator worried both about fixing and to protect the broken bureaucracy of the department,” said VA spokesman Peter Kasperoowicz, in a statement.
Kasperoowicz said that VA’s medical care has been placed on the high -risk list of the Government’s responsibility office because it faces “challenges throughout the system to supervise patient safety and access to care, hire critical personnel and meet future infrastructure needs.” He added that Collins’s goal is to make the VA work better for veterans and their families.
While Collins has promised that the benefits of veterans will not be affected, the Democrats are backing the plans and warning that it is at the expense of attention for those who served in the army. Gallego pointed to a VA hospital in Arizona that, according to him, he had received a directive to reduce 15% of his staff.
“As someone who really used that goes, you know that I had services there in the past. There is no way that they can reduce 15% of the workforce, and it will not affect the benefits of veterans,” he said.
