Video: Blumenthal Slams Republican Effort to Deliver $140 Billion to ICE While Denying Benefits to Combat-Injured Veterans

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today took to the Senate floor to slam the Republican budget resolution that will deliver $140 billion to ICE and Border Protection with no reforms. In his remarks, Blumenthal pressed Senate Republicans for blocking the bipartisan Major Richard Star Act over its costs while pursuing partisan legislation that will cost hundreds of billions more.

"Senate Republicans are willing to work overtime to deliver huge tax breaks to billionaires and siphon billions to ICE with no strings attached. When it comes to lowering costs for Americans, helping working families, or making good on our promises to veterans, Republicans say we can't afford it," said Blumenthal. "In fact, Senate Republican leadership has continuously refused to advance bipartisan legislation to deliver for combat-injured veterans…Why? They claim we cannot afford those benefits…The benefits that equate to one-fourteenth of the money Republicans want to send to ICE. The same Republicans who cannot find the time or the $13 billion to ensure our combat-injured veterans receive their full, earned benefits, they'll keep us here all night spend $140 billion on ICE and CBP."

Blumenthal continued, "It falls on deaf ears for Republicans to claim veterans' initiatives, like the Major Richard Star Act, are too expensive while they push hundreds of billions into Trump's rogue agency or a war of choice. It seems to me Republicans can always find more money for tax cuts…[for] billionaires, but not so much when we're talking about working families or veterans…The cost of taking care of our veterans is a cost of war. It's a cost that must always be paid."

The Major Richard Star Act is bipartisan legislation to fix an injustice preventing combat-injured veterans from receiving their full military benefits. Currently, only veterans with disability ratings above 50 percent and more than 20 years of service are eligible to receive the full amount of their Department of Defense (DOD) retirement and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability payments-leaving behind more than 50,000 combat-injured military retirees.

This legislation has overwhelming support from the majority of both chambers of Congress, with 79 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate and 322 bipartisan cosponsors in the House. However, Senate Republican leadership has blocked two attempts from Blumenthal in October and March to advance this overwhelming bipartisan support, including an effort to give the bill a simple floor vote.

In his remarks, the Senator also highlighted how ICE and CBP's activities under the Trump Administration have harmed veterans and their families: "Over the past year, the Trump Administration has begun deportation proceedings for 34 former members of the military and 248 relatives of former military members. This number doesn't include the countless other former military members that have been swept up into detention by roving patrols and lawless arrests. These are real individuals who chose to wear the uniform, they are not abstract entities…As Republicans propose sending another $140 billion to ICE and CBP, I ask them if they share the same disregard for our troops and veterans or if they will join me in saying enough is enough."

A video link of Blumenthal's floor remarks are available here.

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