WATCH: In Senate Shadow Hearing, Kelly Hears Stories from Veterans Fired by Musk
“These individuals, obviously doing their job, fired without cause with an email from an unelected billionaire. It’s ruining these people’s lives.”
Today, Arizona Senator and Navy combat veteran Mark Kelly heard from fellow veterans who have been fired from the federal workforce by Elon Musk and President Trump. In a shadow hearing hosted by Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal, Kelly learned the difficulties veterans are facing as they search for new employment and the experience of those who have been reinstated after being abruptly fired.
According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, veterans make up 30 percent of the federal workforce compared to only six percent of the civilian workforce. Over 640,000 veterans work serving the American public at federal agencies, and about 36 percent of the veterans working in civil service are disabled or have a serious health condition.
“Veterans across the country have reached out to my office over the last month or so… I spoke to many of these veterans… They were all fired,” said Kelly. “Same stories we’re hearing here. Good performance reports, or excellent. These individuals, obviously doing their job, fired without cause with an email from an unelected billionaire. It’s ruining these people’s lives.”
Click here to download a video of Kelly’s remarks. Click here to watch the full hearing.
See the transcript below:
Sen. Kelly: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is, right now, there are ninety-eight veterans serving in the 119th Congress. That’s the largest number in eight years. It’s gone up some after going down for a long period of time. We span the political spectrum. One of the things, I think, we always could agree upon is that we’ve got a promise that we make to our veterans that after their service, they would be treated with respect, and they would get support that they earned. That promise did not come with an expiration date. Not as far as I ever knew or was told. As a veteran myself, I take this responsibility personally on behalf of Arizona’s five hundred thousand veterans, but also veterans across the country. Yet my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not here today. It’s pretty obvious they’re not. And despite an invitation, Secretary Collins and acting OPM Director Ezell didn’t show up either. So that sends a message. We are standing on the side of veterans. They are not.
Veterans across the country have reached out to my office over the last month or so, I would say. I think it started maybe about a month ago, maybe a little bit before about these firings. I spoke to many of these veterans. I did a conference call. Had about a dozen folks. Half of them were in my office one day. This is about three weeks ago. And some of these folks were disabled veterans. They were all fired. And it was rather sad, actually. Same stories we’re hearing here. Good performance reports, or excellent. Very good performance reports. These individuals, obviously doing their job, fired without cause with an email from an unelected billionaire. It’s ruining these people ‘s lives.
In one case, there was a disabled veteran. And the next day he was going to start his minimum wage job in a kitchen. He’s got kids and could not go without a salary. And this was after a long career in service in our military and then further service in the federal government. The federal government likes to hire veterans. And it’s not just because veterans deserve to be hired. There is a veteran’s preference in the federal government. But these are reliable mission-oriented people with skills. And the federal government values these skills. Until this administration. And then they stopped placing any value on folks being responsible, having leadership qualities or being able to follow orders or being focused on a mission. That wasn’t important anymore, certainly not important to Elon Musk. Not important to Donald Trump. And these veterans that I spoke to were really struggling. So, I want to hear a couple folks from you about your experience.
Is there anyone here that has not been hired back? Shernice, you have not. So, what is your experience of searching for employment? What challenges are you facing? And what support and resources, if any, did the agency that you worked for or the VA make available to you?
Ms. Shernice Mundell, Air Force veteran: I am still looking right now, I’m sending out my resume. I live in Maryland. Senator Van Holland is my senator. My congressman has not held any town halls. When I send emails or call his office, I just get an auto reply just saying that he agrees with what the administration is doing. No resources. Governor Moore has opened up state–he’s expanded the state jobs, so I’ve been applying there. When I was terminated, I did not get—we didn’t get any of the paperwork that we needed to file for unemployment, so, I had to wait for that to come, which came maybe two weeks after. That’s when I found out that my health insurance for my kids was going to be terminated. I have to see about applying for VA benefits because I never used it because I always had a job where I used my health—my employer-sponsored benefits. So, I have to see if I can get that. I’m going to have to apply for Medicaid for myself. And my son. But right now…There was a Maryland veterans grant that I googled, searched and found out that I could get assistance from that. I’ve applied for that as well.
Sen. Kelly: And what agency were you at?
Ms. Shernice Mundell: I was with OPM.
Sen. Kelly: So, OPM, they didn’t provide you any advice, support counseling, no help with unemployment?
Ms. Shernice Mundell: No, no. No. Just two weeks after I got the paperwork—the paper that I needed to take to unemployment to file.
Sen. Kelly: You would think the Office of Personnel Management would be good at personnel issues.
Ms. Shernice Mundell: They did thank me and wish me well on my search for a new job.
Sen. Kelly: And how many folks do you know that also received the same treatment?
Ms. Shernice Mundell: There were seventy-five on the call when I was fired. Six people from the department that I had come from were all terminated. I still keep in touch with them. And then there was, I want to say, maybe three or four with the team that I was on when I got, when I was fired.
Sen. Kelly: And finally, what kind of support do you think would be helpful for you right now?
Ms. Shernice Mundell: I think eventually we’re all going to need some counseling. Mental. I’m just trying to hold it all together right now, so I just want to find a new job where I can provide for my family ‘cause I’m not used to not working. And not being able to provide so…
Sen. Kelly: So, the number one thing is finding another job.
Ms. Shernice Mundell: Yes.
Sen. Kelly: I am so sorry that this happened to you. Folks out there, we were not expecting this. Donald Trump said he was going to do a number of things. I did not expect these mass firings, he also said he was going to help with the cost of groceries and inflation, and it’s done exactly the opposite thing that would bring down those prices. So, thank you for your service to this country and we’ll see what we can do to help.
Ms. Shernice Mundell: Thank you.
