{"id":1053568,"date":"2025-06-13T21:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T01:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1053568"},"modified":"2025-06-15T09:36:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T13:36:51","slug":"senator-duckworth-while-donald-trump-parades-around-dc-he-is-slashing-services-for-veterans-military-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/senator-duckworth-while-donald-trump-parades-around-dc-he-is-slashing-services-for-veterans-military-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Duckworth: While Donald Trump Parades Around DC, He Is Slashing Services for Veterans &amp; Military Families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While Donald Trump rolls tanks down Pennsylvania Avenue for his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-military-parade-birthday-45-million-dollars\/\">$45 million<\/a> military parade, veterans who once operated them in combat now face devastating Veterans Affairs cuts, threats to lifesaving health care, and gutted financial resources because of Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Ahead of Donald Trump\u2019s birthday parade, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth \u2014 Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient and former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs \u2014 released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump is throwing himself a military parade for his birthday, but he doesn\u2019t know what it means to serve. Tomorrow, as Donald Trump \u2014 a man who dodged the draft five times and called Servicemembers willing to lay down their lives \u2018suckers\u2019 and \u2018losers\u2019 \u2014 celebrates himself, Democrats will uplift America\u2019s true heroes: our Servicemembers who every day live the oath of country before self.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Trump is ripping away veterans\u2019 health care and hard-earned benefits through mass firings and funding cuts, and will inflict even more damage with his billionaire-first budget.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1 in 10 veterans rely on Medicaid to access health care, but Trump\u2019s budget bill is pushing to slash Medicaid by $800 billion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Trump\u2019s devastating cuts have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2025\/03\/27\/veterans-crisis-line-va-employees-doge-stress\/\">\u201cbattered\u201d<\/a> veteran crisis line operators, who are scrambling for more resources as they navigate increasing call volumes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trump\u2019s sweeping cuts are causing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/trump-veterans-affairs-budget-staff-cuts-jeopardize-cancer-research\">\u201csevere and immediate impacts,\u201d<\/a> including stopping life-saving cancer trials and treatment for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trump\u2019s sweeping layoffs also included Iraq War veterans who received <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/f8kycxYUoVg\">no severance or notice.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Trump administration\u2019s disastrous mass firings have disproportionately hurt veterans, who make up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opm.gov\/fedshirevets\/hiring-officials\/ved-fy21.pdf\">30%<\/a> of the total federal workforce.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/04\/30\/doge-hits-trump-country-00319654\">Republicans<\/a> have slammed Trump for targeting veterans \u2014 Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) criticized Trump for cutting $400 million grants that support veterans.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Because of Trump\u2019s chaotic funding cuts, veterans are struggling to access care through the VA.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Many of the veterans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3326969\/va-layoffs-concerns-veterans-care\/#google_vignette\">calling the agency\u2019s crisis line<\/a> have either not received a response or have had their claim denied following federal funding cuts.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Trump administration\u2019s order to rescind remote work arrangements for federal employees reversed a VA policy that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/us\/politics\/veterans-affairs-mental-health-privacy.html\">existed long before the pandemic<\/a>, because it helped the agency reach more patients across the country.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Psychiatric nurses at a VA outpatient facility were forced to conduct patient intake interviews in public spaces, forcing veterans to provide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/us\/politics\/veterans-affairs-mental-health-privacy.html\">\u201cvery personal\u201d <\/a>information in public.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A VA social worker was forced to treat homeless veterans in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/us\/politics\/veterans-affairs-mental-health-privacy.html\">windowless mailroom <\/a>crowded with undelivered boxes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As the VA already suffers from severe health care staff shortages, Trump\u2019s reckless policy is pushing more doctors to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/us\/politics\/veterans-affairs-mental-health-privacy.html\">retire early<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cWe\u2019re Asking For What\u2019s Promised\u201d: Across the country, veterans are speaking out against Trump\u2019s mass firings and funding cuts.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Veterans said they felt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\/news\/local\/atlanta\/weve-been-betrayed-local-veterans-angry-after-being-laid-off-by-trump-administration\/FBCKFRIFQRHZVK5FG3W7MUQEYA\/\">\u201cbetrayed\u201d<\/a> by the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping layoffs.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vietnam veteran Roger Pawelson said that VA cuts threatened his health care and slammed the Trump administration for having <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Bn-cbdOYyR4\">\u201cno sense of service to country\u201d<\/a> and being <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Bn-cbdOYyR4\">\u201cdespicable people.\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Desert Storm veteran David Johnson said that VA cuts <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/sOpkmrzA0CA\">risked funding for his surgery<\/a> to correct his debilitating condition on his eye.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An Iraq War veteran slammed Trump\u2019s VA cuts as <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/y1_IL-T_dz4\">\u201cphenomenally awful,\u201d<\/a> and stated the administration is \u201cdoing everything they can to damage\u201d veterans.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One disabled veteran said that some of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stlpr.org\/government-politics-issues\/2025-03-14\/hundreds-of-veterans-protest-trump-musk-and-va-cuts-outside-veterans-hospital\">her medical providers had been fired <\/a>because of DOGE cuts, impacting her health care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Donald Trump rolls tanks down Pennsylvania Avenue for his $45 million military parade, veterans who once operated them in combat now face devastating Veterans Affairs cuts, threats to lifesaving health care, and gutted financial resources because of Trump. Ahead of Donald Trump\u2019s birthday parade, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth \u2014 Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Senator Duckworth: While Donald Trump Parades Around DC, He Is Slashing Services for Veterans &amp; Military Families - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/senator-duckworth-while-donald-trump-parades-around-dc-he-is-slashing-services-for-veterans-military-families\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-14T01:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-15T13:36:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/senator-duckworth-while-donald-trump-parades-around-dc-he-is-slashing-services-for-veterans-military-families\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/senator-duckworth-while-donald-trump-parades-around-dc-he-is-slashing-services-for-veterans-military-families\/\",\"name\":\"Senator Duckworth: While Donald Trump Parades Around DC, He Is Slashing Services for Veterans &amp; 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