(The Center Square) – A group of senators have introduced legislation that would reinstate veterans fired from federal jobs under President Donald Trump’s plan to reduce the federal workforce.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Monday introduced the Protect Veteran Jobs Act. She and cosponsoring Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., say the legislation would reinstate veterans fired from federal jobs “as part of the Trump administration’s indiscriminate and mass” layoffs of federal workers.
The bill has an uphill battle. There are no Repubicans among nine cosponsors and the Grand Old Party has a majority in the Senate.
The senators say veterans comprise 30% of the federal workforce, adding that “it’s estimated” that the administration has already laid off over 6,000 veterans. In fiscal year 2021, the Office of Personnel Management recorded the federal government employed 636,937 veterans.
Kaine accused the president of kicking veterans to the curb while citing widely disputed accusations that Trump labeled veterans “suckers and losers.”
“President Trump has fired more veterans in his first few weeks in office than any U.S. president,” Kaine said. “This is unacceptable. These men and women have made tremendous sacrifices in service to our nation, and now they are being kicked to the curb by a President who has previously called servicemembers and veterans losers and suckers. Every one of my colleagues should be able to support this legislation that would reinstate veterans who were fired as part of the Trump Administration’s mass, indiscriminate firing of federal employees.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 614,631 veterans call Virginia home as of 2022, a 15.59% decrease since 2012. Virginia has the sixth-highest veteran population in the U.S. and the third highest per capita, with an unemployment rate in the commonwealth of 1.9% versus 3.8% for nonveterans, according to the American Community Survey. The same study shows that in 2015, the veteran unemployment rate in Virginia was 4%.
The legislation has received the support of veterans’ organizations and unions, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AMVETS, the Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees and VoteVets, which describes itself as the “largest group of progressive Veterans in America.”
Companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Derek Tran, D-Calif. Republicans also hold the majority in the lower chamber.
