At Hearing, Blumenthal Commends Veterans for Role in Forcing Trump Administration to Walk Back Disastrous New Policy for Disabled Veterans

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - At a joint Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and House Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing with Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) today, Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) commended Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and Veterans Service Organizations for their role in applying public pressure to halt the Trump Administration's new policy that would change how veteran disability ratings are evaluated. This policy would lower disability ratings and compensation awards for disabled veterans who rely on medications to manage their health conditions by ignoring the true severity of their disabilities.

"Our VSOs are the lifeblood of our veterans' health care and other benefits and compensation to the men and women who are our national heroes. You are the ones who stand in watch over the VA and over us. The latest example was your reaction to the cuts that were threatened, cruel, stupid cuts in VA benefits, and you and your voices turned it around. Thank you to the Veterans Service Organizations for correcting what would have been a disastrous slash in benefits for countless veterans who rely on medications to manage their service-connected conditions," said Blumenthal.

Blumenthal emphasized how VA Secretary Collins temporarily halted implementation of the policy last week following backlash from veterans and VSOs. This morning, Blumenthal, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-CA), and his colleagues sent a letter demanding Collins immediately permanently rescind the policy. More than 18,000 public comments have been made opposing the Administration's policy, which was made without providing advance notice to or consulting with veterans or Congress. In their letter, the lawmakers stressed the harm it could cause by forcing veterans to make an "impossible choice" of following their prescribed treatment plan or risk losing their benefits.

Blumenthal also highlighted a Military Times op-ed penned by DAV National Adjutant Barry Jeinoski titled "Veterans aren't campaign props - Congress must start acting like it," and pressed his colleagues to take bipartisan action to finally pass the Major Richard Star Act-which was blocked by Republican leadership last year from being attached to the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act and from receiving a vote.

In his questioning, Blumenthal underscored the Trump Administration's unprecedented lack of transparency with Congress and veterans, noting VA Secretary Collins' most recent failure to fully deliver all the information he promised at a hearing last month: "We have encountered tremendous difficulty on both sides of the aisle…the flow of information from the VA has been highly obscure. And even after the last hearing that we had when Secretary Collins promised to fully answer all our questions, to this moment we have received half or less than what he promised to provide. I hope you'll join in this effort to demand full and complete transparency from the Department of Veterans Affairs so that you can be effective advocates for the veterans of America."

The full text of Blumenthal's opening is copied below and a video link is available here.

Senator Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you Chair Mace, and thank you, Senator Moran, our Chairman in the Senate. I'm honored to be with all of you today, and I particularly want to welcome anyone who has managed to make it here from Connecticut, out of the snow. If you're here, Connecticut, thank you. And thank you to all the rest of you. Never doubt, never doubt that you are making a difference. Our VSOs are the lifeblood of our veterans' health care and other benefits and compensation to the men and women who are our national heroes. You are the ones who stand in watch over the VA and over us. The latest example was your reaction to the cuts that were threatened, cruel, stupid cuts in VA benefits, and you and your voices turned it around. Thank you to the Veterans Service Organizations for correcting what would have been a disastrous slash in benefits for countless veterans who rely on medications to manage their service-connected conditions. Thank you, all of you. There is still work to be done. There is still work to be done on that issue, among others. Representative Takano and I this morning sent a letter to Secretary Collins demanding the immediate rescission of the Department of Veterans Affairs interim final rule. It's entitled evaluative rating, impact of medication, a benign-sounding rule that in fact will impact, cruelly and dangerously, our veterans. I call on Secretary Collins to resend this rule this morning while you are testifying here. And I thank all my colleagues who have joined in this letter. I'm hoping that this effort will be bipartisan, as so much of our work is and should be, but it has to result in action. I read just this morning an excellent article written by Barry Jesinoski, thank you for this excellent article, Military Times. I asked that it be put into the record Madam Chair. Its headline is, Veterans aren't campaign props - Congress must start acting like it. I couldn't have said it better. And to quote the article, "recent congresses rank among the least productive in modern history, paralyzed by dysfunction, partisan infighting, and an apparent inability to do the basic job voters send them to Washington to do." We should overcome- yeah- that deserves your applause for sure. Thank you, Barry. We need to overcome this kind of dysfunction. Not only for our veterans, but for our whole country. And I hope that this hearing will mark a critical step in that effort. And the best example would be passing the Richard Star, Major Richard Star Act. Most of you know I have championed this bill for years. I went most recently to the floor of the United States Senate and asked for unanimous consent. It was blocked by one of my colleagues. I ask all of you, make your views known about the Richard Star Act. Make sure that your member of the Senate or Congress joins in supporting a measure that is about basic fairness so that our combat veterans are not deprived of benefits they have earned. These are not benefits, are not charity, they are not philanthropy. You have earned them. It is not double dipping. It is deserved. The Richard Star Act should pass during this session of the United States Congress. And I will go to the floor and again ask unanimous consent that it be approved. Let me say, finally, I am deeply grateful to all of you for the support that you provided to a range of other measures. I read your testimony. The Guard Act, the kinds of basic architecture that we need to sustain. We have seen a systematic degradation of VA health care and the first-ever net reduction in VA staff, a concerted effort that has forced thousands of physicians, schedulers, registered nurses, and others to leave federal service. Veterans have seen increased mental health care wait times, politically motivated policies that threaten at risk veterans and decrease quality of veteran's decisions. These Administrative actions also demand scrutiny and reversal. Thank you for all you do for America and for the veterans of The United States. Thank you.