FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 26, 2017

Contact: Sean Savett, sean_savett@duckworth.senate.gov
Duckworth & Durbin: Federal Hiring Freeze Threatens to Harm Veterans & the American People
Misguided freeze could delay Veterans access to care and benefits, make it harder for Veterans to find
jobs
[WASHINGTON, DC] U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today urged
President Trump to rethink his misguided federal hiring freeze which, in addition to making the entire
federal government less efficient and less able to assist Americans, will hit Veterans particularly hard.
The newly-implemented hiring freeze could increase wait times at agencies like Social Security
Administration, and reduce government oversight by limiting staffing at Offices of Inspector Generals. It
will also have a catastrophic effect on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which needs to hire
critical staff to reduce patient wait times and the VA backlog, and could significantly delay Veteran
carebreaking a campaign promise the President made regularly to improve Veteran care.
A hiring freeze at the VA will delay Veterans access to health care and resolution of their
disability claims, which for many of our nations heroes provides a sole source of income to them
and their families, Duckworth and her fellow Members of Congress wrote. Our nations veterans
should not be made to sacrifice any more than they already have while you review federal hiring.
For years, the VA has faced a personnel shortage, especially in rural areas, and the agency currently has
more than 45,000 job openings and more than 450,000 Veterans are currently waiting to receive the
benefits they earned while serving in our armed services. Duckworth called on the President to reconsider
his hiring freeze in a letter led by the Ranking Members of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs
Committees, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and Representative Tim Walz (D-MN). The letter, which was
co-signed by 51 other Members of Congress, also outlined how a federal hiring freeze will hurt Veterans
transitioning back to civilian life who are seeking federal jobs and called on Trump to exempt all veterans
seeking employment from his hiring freeze, underscoring that veterans make up 31 percent of the federal
workforce.
An across-the-board freeze will hurt these veterans many of whom are transitioning from
military to civilian service, and many of whom are disabled. The negative impacts of this freeze will
be felt across the country and disproportionately affect those men and women who have honorably
served in our military, the group added.
Acting VA Director Robert Snyder this week said the VA will continue to hire front-line caregivers
despite the Presidents executive order, but Senator Duckworth and the other members believe the entire
VA exempt from the hiring freeze, including support staff, schedulers, IT specialists, and payment
processers, in order to reduce the VA backlog and wait times as quickly as possible.
The full letter can be viewed below:
Dear President Trump:
We are deeply troubled that your freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees will have a negative
and disproportionate impact on our nations veterans. As such, we urge you to take stock of this hiring
freezes effect on our nations veterans and exempt the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well as
any veterans seeking federal employment from your Memorandum Regarding the Hiring Freeze.

While there can be no debate that the federal government, including VA, should be more efficient in its
delivery of services to all Americans, a hiring freeze at VA will delay veterans access to health care and
resolution of their disability claims, which for many of our nations heroes provides a sole source of
income to them and their families. Our nations veterans should not be made to sacrifice any more than
they already have while you review federal hiring.
Have you considered how this hiring freeze will affect VAs ability to provide veterans with access to
health care? For years, VA has faced chronic medical personnel shortages, particularly in rural
areas. As a result of the hiring freeze, the Departments inability to hire clinicians and the administrative
support teams to schedule appointments will have a direct impact on the number of veterans on waiting
lists at facilities across the country. Further, this will have an impact on community providers, who will
be forced to continue waiting for delayed payments without VA having the ability to hire employees to
process payments on their claims. We urge you to re-evaluate this hiring freeze and take into account
veterans who will face increased delay in accessing health care.
Have you considered how this hiring freeze will affect VAs ability to provide veterans with decisions on
their appeals for disability compensation? More than 450,000 appeals are pending that means that
more than 450,000 veterans are waiting for the U.S. government to provide them with benefits earned
while a disability was incurred while serving in our armed services. Our nations veterans cannot afford
an unnecessary wait to receive the benefits they have earned serving our country. We urge you to reevaluate this hiring freeze and take into account the effect it will have on veterans who will have to wait
longer for earned benefits -- whether its disability, survivor or education benefits, or whether its
vocational rehabilitation or job training services.
Have you considered how this hiring freeze will impact those veterans who apply to federal
jobs? Veterans comprise 31 percent of the federal workforce and most receive a well-earned hiring
preference when they apply for federal jobs. An across-the-board freeze will hurt these veterans many
of whom are transitioning from military to civilian service, and many of whom are disabled. The negative
impacts of this freeze will be felt across the country and disproportionately affect those men and women
who have honorably served in our military.
Should you move forward with this hiring freeze, one issue that must not be overlooked is VAs littleknown mission of providing support to national efforts to prepare for, respond to, and recover from
natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and man-made catastrophes. We urge you to classify VAs delivery of
health care as a national security and public safety responsibility, as outlined in your Presidential
Memorandum Regarding Hiring Freeze, and exempt it from this hiring freeze. To do otherwise is to
jeopardize the national security and public safety of our nation.
Mr. President, this hiring freeze will have a dramatic impact on the quality of health care and benefits
veterans receive. We urge you to reconsider.
Co-signers:
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.)
Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.)
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.)
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)
Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.)
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA.)
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.)
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.)
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.)
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)
Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.)
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
Rep. Mark Takano (CA-41)
Rep. Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (NH-2)
Rep. Beto ORourke (TX-16)
Rep. Kathleen M. Rice (NY-4)
Rep. J. Luis Correa (CA-46)