On the recordMarch 6, 2025
I rise today to speak out against the harmful actions taken by the Trump administration and Elon Musk. What they are doing isn't about government efficiency. They are mass firing the men and women who help provide vital services that countless Nevadans rely on, from Medicaid to food assistance. This is being felt in nearly every corner of our country. It is impacting our veterans who rely on the VA, our seniors who rely on Social Security and Medicare, our families who rely on Medicaid and CHIP for their children's healthcare, and so many others. The actions taken by the Trump administration and Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, are tearing at the fabric of American society. This is no way to run a country, and the people in my State are being hurt in the process. So, today, I want to focus on a specific aspect of the Trump firings: how it is impacting veterans, not just veterans across the country but particularly those veterans in Nevada. Just yesterday, it was reported that Elon Musk and his DOGE tech bros are planning to cut 80,000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs--80,000. This is in addition to the 1,000 VA employees they have already laid off, which included people who staffed the Veterans Crisis Hotline. So maybe Mr. Musk and his team--his team of, as I said, teenybopper tech bros--they don't understand the magnitude of their actions. So let me explain to them what the VA does, what the VA means.…





