“Under President Biden, the VA increased its staff 80,000 people. You’d think that this would mean that we would increase the efficiency of our VA [by] 80,000 percent. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) objected to Democrats’ efforts to halt the Trump administration’s actions to make the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) more efficient.
Excerpts from Senator Tuberville’s remarks can be found below, and his full remarks can be viewed on Rumble or YouTube.
“Reserving the right to object.
On November the 5th, President Trump was given a mandate: get this country straightened out. This included waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal government, over all agencies.
The VA is a perfect example. Under President Biden, the VA increased its staff 80,000 employees in four years. Let me repeat that. Under President Biden, the VA increased its staff 80,000 people. You’d think that this would mean that we would increase the efficiency of our VA [by] 80,000 percent. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Despite the Biden administration ballooning the size of the department, the VA has nothing to show for it. In fact, wait times and backlogs have gone up [under Biden]. Hasn’t worked. So, these cuts are not [unwarranted.] They are completely necessary.
By reducing the number of employees, these savings can be redirected to actually providing veteran healthcare and benefits, while still protecting VA’s mission of critical jobs like doctors, nurses, and claims processors. Do the job it was meant to do. And phasing out non-mission critical jobs like DEI officers and interior designers, [to name] just a few, is necessary to get this job done.
Now, I don’t wanna oversimplify this. I know these problems at the VA exist. They always have existed. Since 2015, the VA care has been on the government accountability [watch]list. High risk. That means it’s being audited. Are they doing their job? Not very good reviews. We have to do better for our veterans. I come from a military family, spent many hours in the VA. Some are good, some are not so good.
Let’s stand up for our veterans. The VA’s [priorities] across the board [are essential]—from overseeing simple things like safety [to] access of care. And it’s not by having more people, it’s by having better people. The VA is not supposed to be a massive bureaucracy. That’s not what it was meant to be. It was created to serve our veterans.
This resolution being put forward would directly prevent President Trump from carrying out his mandate that the American people gave him. The American people have spoken and the days of business as usual are over. The VA is going to get better.
For these reasons, Madam President, I object.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
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