Tell Congress: Veterans in Civil Service Deserve to Keep Serving

Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal, Chairman Bost, & Ranking Member Takano:

We are American veterans. We served in combat zones and command centers, on ships and in the skies. We carried the weight of war and the responsibility of defending our Constitution. 

We missed births and birthdays, moved our families from base to base, worked and fought in far-off places—wherever we were told for as long as we were told. We are patriots. We love this country, and we were honored to serve it–not just while in uniform, but with our word, our loyalty, and our trust in this democracy. 

For many of us, our commitment did not end when we left the military. We took jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs to support fellow veterans in the difficult transition we were making ourselves. We joined the State Department, which sent us back overseas to bring food and medicine to devastated places in hopes of growing goodwill and democracy over extremism and hostility. We joined the Department of Justice to prosecute crimes against the American people. At the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, we built cybersecurity networks, conducted life-saving research, guarded our borders and infrastructure, and ensured that our food and medicine stayed safe. We kept the lights on, and the payroll met at every agency you’ve ever heard of, plus the ones you haven’t. 

We stood shoulder to shoulder with civil servants who, like us, dedicated themselves to this country. And all of us, no matter what we did after the military, hold a unique appreciation for those who choose to serve. We know these people. We are these people.

Over 18,000 civil servants—including thousands of veterans—were just fired without cause.

These are not faceless bureaucrats. They are us. It is shattering to learn via email that your national service, perhaps spanning decades, has suddenly ended due to “poor performance” without any evidence. To tell your spouse and children that your job is just gone without any notice.

Like all Americans, we want an efficient government. We pay taxes, too. But we expect our government to follow the laws and procedures it sets for terminating its employees, just as we were expected to follow lawful orders and procedures in the military. This means actual evaluations before firing someone for performance. This means notice before laying someone off. These were promises made and not kept. 

Let us be clear: It is an insult to our service to accept the indiscriminate termination of veterans and civil servants without good faith adherence to the laws that you, Congress, passed to prevent this. Doing so not only disrespects those who are fired, it sends a chilling message to all who have sworn to serve the United States that our service and sacrifice, no matter how great, is somehow worth less than the full support of our nation’s elected representatives. 

You must act. As the leaders of Congress’ veterans affairs committees, you have the power to protect veterans in our federal civil service. Our constitution vests you with enormous power, including oversight of the executive branch. We ask you to use that power for good. You must act and demand an end to the indiscriminate firing of federal workers and demand their reinstatement. We ask you to do this, especially for our fellow veterans, who have earned this much and more, and for whom you have a special duty to protect.

We call on you to serve us now.