Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) introduced the Protect Veteran Jobs Act today, seeking to reinstate thousands of veterans dismissed without cause during the Trump administration’s ongoing restructuring of government agencies. The legislation is similar to a bill by Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA).
Both bills target veterans removed from civil service positions between January 20, 2025, and the date of the legislation’s enactment, leveraging reinstatement mandates and heightened congressional oversight to counter what sponsors describe as an “indiscriminate purge” orchestrated by former President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk.
Duckworth’s bill mandates that all veterans involuntarily terminated from federal roles during the specified period regain eligibility for reinstatement to their former positions or comparable roles within the civil service.
This provision directly challenges the Trump administration’s workforce reduction strategies, which have already led to an estimated 6,000 veteran layoffs—a figure Democrats argue reflects systemic disregard for military service. Senator Duckworth, a combat veteran and double amputee from the Iraq War, emphasized that veterans constitute over 30% of the federal workforce, making them disproportionately affected by recent cuts.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have fired more Veterans than any Administration in our nation’s history—it is a stunningly cruel betrayal of the men and women who bravely answered the call to serve our country in uniform,” said Senator Duckworth. “Veterans who choose to continue their service to our country in the federal workforce deserve our utmost gratitude, but instead this Administration has kicked thousands of our heroes to the curb and left them without a paycheck. The message of our bill is simple: Give our heroes their jobs back. If Republicans really care about our Veterans, they should stop enabling Trump and Musk’s chaos and support our legislation.”
Complementing the reinstatement measure, the bill imposes rigorous reporting requirements on executive agencies. Within 60 days of enactment, and quarterly thereafter until 2029, agencies must submit detailed accounts of veteran dismissals to Congress, including justifications for each termination. This transparency mechanism aims to curb arbitrary firings and hold agencies accountable for personnel decisions affecting former service members.
The legislation arrives amid escalating tensions over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Musk-led initiative criticized for implementing rapid, algorithm-driven workforce reductions. While Republicans defend the restructuring as necessary for fiscal responsibility, Democrats argue the approach has sacrificed experienced personnel—particularly veterans—for speed.
Notably, the bill tests Republican loyalty to a key constituency: veterans historically lean conservative, with exit polls showing 57% supported Trump in the 2024 election. Democrats have intensified pressure by inviting fired veterans like Andrew Lennox—a Marine veteran dismissed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—to high-profile events, including Trump’s March 3 congressional address.
“You spend 10 years trying to defend your country in terms of honesty, integrity and justice, and then you come back and get copy-and-pasted the same email as 10,000 other people about your performance,” Andrew Lennox, a fired Department of Veterans Affairs worker who served as a Marine in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, told ABC News.
Endorsements from major veterans’ organizations underscore the bill’s symbolic weight. The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and AMVETS joined unions like the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in supporting the measure, with AFGE President Everett Kelley condemning the layoffs as “a disgrace to patriotic veterans”. These groups argue that veterans’ unique skills—from crisis management to technical expertise—make them irreplaceable in agencies like the VA, which faces planned cuts of 80,000 positions despite bipartisan objections.
The Trump administration counters that workforce optimization prioritizes taxpayer interests. Adviser Alina Habba recently stated, “We have a responsibility to ensure money is spent on individuals actively contributing,” suggesting some veterans may lack relevant skills for modernized agencies.
“That doesn’t mean that we forget our veterans by any means,” she added. “We are going to care for them in the right way, but perhaps they’re not fit to have a job at this moment, or not willing to come to work. And we can’t, you know, I wouldn’t take money from you and pay somebody and say, ‘Sorry, you know, they’re not going to come to work.’ It’s just not acceptable.”
With Republicans controlling both chambers, the bill’s passage remains unlikely without bipartisan support.
However, the legislation serves immediate tactical purposes: attaching veteran protections to upcoming appropriations bills could force Republicans into politically fraught votes ahead of the 2026 midterms. If enacted, the Protect Veteran Jobs Act would mark one of the largest federal reinstatement efforts since the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.
Legal scholars note that while presidents traditionally enjoy broad personnel discretion, Congress retains constitutional authority to impose employment conditions through appropriations and oversight. The bill’s focus on veterans—a protected class with existing hiring preferences under 5 U.S.C. § 2108—could strengthen its legal standing compared to broader workforce protections.
