Bernie Sanders Warns Elon Musk Is Trying To 'Privatize' VA, Spars With Tommy Tuberville Over Bill

4/9/2025

During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) debated Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) over layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Transcript

00:01And I'll try to be brief here.

00:03We hear a lot of talk on the floor of the Senate about patriotism,

00:07about love of country, about how we have all got to work together for the common good.

00:15And it would seem to me that when we talk about those who sacrifice,

00:20those who have put their lives on the line to defend this country,

00:25we're talking about the men and women in America who are veterans.

00:29And yet, what we have seen in the last month from the President and from Elon Musk

00:40is a chainsaw approach to essentially destroy the Veterans Administration.

00:48And that is there are plans afoot, public, no one is debating the numbers.

00:53They want to fire 83,000 employees.

00:58And when you fire 83,000 employees, nobody, nobody believes that anything else will happen

01:07but that there will be a deterioration in the quality of health care that our veterans receive

01:15or a delay in the benefits that they have earned.

01:21Now, I've heard criticism of the VA.

01:23The VA is the largest health care system in America.

01:26Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

01:28Does that have its problems? Of course it does.

01:30But compared to what?

01:33Compared to the American health care system, which is the most expensive in the world,

01:38a system in which 83 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, where 60,000 people die each year,

01:47where we have the lowest life expectancy of any other major country on earth?

01:53So no, the VA is not perfect. It needs improvement.

01:57It needs improvement.

01:58But I will tell you that in the state of Vermont, I talk to a lot of veterans.

02:02I'm the former chair of the Veterans Committee.

02:04And I have the honor to look to veterans of Vermont and all over this country.

02:07And in Vermont, what they tell me, there is enormous pride in the quality of care that they get

02:13at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont,

02:16and as well in the community-based outreach clinics that exist all over our state.

02:21And I expect, with some exceptions, that is true all over the country.

02:25Bottom line is veterans appreciate the care that they get at the VA.

02:31Want it improved, but they appreciate it.

02:34And they do not believe that there should be massive cuts to the Veterans Administration.

02:41Truth is that in fiscal year 24, before Trump took office,

02:47the VA reported over 36,000 vacancies, including 2,400 doctors, 6,300 registered nurses,

02:561,800 social workers, and 1,200 custodians.

03:00When you have a workforce shortage, the solution is not to fire 83,000 people.

03:07It is to add people.

03:09It is to make sure you know where your workforce is going,

03:13that you have quality people, but you don't lay off 83,000 people.

03:17That is not just my view.

03:20It would seem to me that before you take a chainsaw to the Veterans Administration,

03:24you might want to talk to the veterans organizations and see what they think about it.

03:29The Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW said, quote,

03:34We call upon VA to reconsider its planned reduction of 83,000 employees

03:40and thoroughly review any proposed cuts prior to rolling out further announcements like this.

03:46End quote.

03:48Paralyzed Veterans of America said that they are, quote,

03:52deeply troubled by actions being taken in Washington, D.C.

03:56that are already having a detrimental impact on the surfaces that veterans with spinal cord injuries

04:01and diseases like ALS and MS rely upon. End quote.

04:05The disabled American veterans, the DAV, said, quote,

04:08We are extremely concerned about the leaked proposal to arbitrarily eliminate 80,000 VA employees. End of quote.

04:17That is what some of the major veterans organizations are saying,

04:21and I have talked to virtually all of the veterans organizations,

04:25and they are deeply, deeply, deeply concerned about the cuts that we have seen

04:30and the cuts that Musk is proposing.

04:35So, Madam President, this is not a difficult issue.

04:39Everybody here wants to make the VA more efficient.

04:43The way you do that is to come up with some plans.

04:46You work with the Veterans Committee,

04:49and you see how we can make the VA more efficient.

04:52Nobody in their right mind thinks that just firing 83,000 people is the way to go.

04:58And let me be very clear.

05:00Mr. Musk has made it public that he thinks that we should privatize anything that can be privatized.

05:08There are people, not all, people in the Republican Party who eventually want to privatize Social Security.

05:14We are looking at $880 billion in cuts in Medicaid to dismantle that very important healthcare organization.

05:23And if anybody thinks that the laying off of 83,000 employees of the VA,

05:28the lowering of quality care that our veterans will receive is not a prelude to the movement to privatize the VA,

05:35you would be surely mistaken.

05:37So, with that, Madam President, as if in legislative session, and notwithstanding Rule 22,

05:44I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of SRES 165,

05:49which was submitted earlier today.

05:51Further, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to,

05:56and that the motions to reconsider be considered, made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

06:02Bottom line, do not lay off 83,000 employees at the Veterans Administration.

06:09Action.

06:10Madam President.

06:11The Senator from Alabama.

06:12Reserving the right to object, you know, on November the 5th, President Trump was given a mandate.

06:18Get this country straightened out.

06:21This included waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal government, over all agencies.

06:29The VA is a perfect example.

06:32Under President Biden, the VA increased its staff 80,000 employees in four years.

06:39Let me repeat that.

06:41Under President Biden, the VA increased its staff 80,000 people.

06:48You'd think that this would mean that we would increase the efficiency of our VA 80,000%.

06:57Unfortunately, that's not the case.

06:59Despite the Biden administration ballooning the size of the department, the VA has nothing to show for it.

07:07In fact, wait times and backlogs have gone up.

07:12Hadn't worked.

07:14So these cuts are not warranted.

07:17They are completely necessary.

07:20By reducing the number of employees, these savings can be redirected to actually providing veteran health care and benefits,

07:29while still protecting VA's mission of critical jobs like doctors, nurses, and claims processors.

07:36Do the job it was meant to do.

07:39And phasing out non-mission critical jobs like DEI officers and interior designers, for just a few, is necessary to get this job done.

07:50Now, I don't want to oversimplify this.

07:53I know these problems at the VA exist.

07:56They always have existed.

07:58Since 2015, the VA has, care has been on the government accountability list.

08:06High risk.

08:08That means it's being audited.

08:10Are they doing their job?

08:12Not very good reviews.

08:14We have to do better for our veterans.

08:17I come from a military family.

08:20Spent many hours in the VA.

08:22Some are good.

08:23Some are not so good.

08:25Let's stand up for our veterans.

08:27The VA challenges across the board, from overseeing simple things like safety and access of care, are essential.

08:35And it's not.

08:37Not by having more people.

08:39It's by having better people.

08:42The VA is not supposed to be a massive bureaucracy.

08:45That's not what it was meant to be.

08:47It was created to serve our veterans.

08:51This resolution being put forward would directly prevent President Trump from carrying out his mandate that the American people gave him.

08:59American people have spoken, and the days of business as usual are over.

09:06The VA is going to get better.

09:08For these reasons, Madam President, I object.

09:12Objection is heard.

09:13Madam President.

09:14The Senator from Vermont.

09:15I am not aware that in the so-called mandate of President Trump, and by the way, he got millions of votes less than Joe Biden got four years previously,

09:26I don't recall that during the campaign, Trump went around the country saying,

09:32Hey, elect me.

09:33I'm going to lay off 83,000 workers at the Veterans Administration.

09:40Yes, we all want the VA to operate more efficiently.

09:45But the idea that you can lay off 83,000 employees and make that happen is absurd.

09:52The truth is, again, before Trump took office, we had a significant shortage of the number of doctors, nurses, mental health counselors, and other practitioners.

10:03So it is disturbing to me that anyone who claims to be supporting veterans in this country and the sacrifices they have made would object to this amendment, this resolution.