Democratic Rep. Derek Tran of California is introducing a bill to reinstate the jobs of veterans fired in the mass purge by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
Tran, an Army veteran and freshman in Congress, appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday to defend the bill titled “Protect Veteran Jobs Act.” Tran’s district, California’s 45th, is home to more than 18,000 veterans.
“These veterans have given up so much to protect us, and the least we can do is have their back when they need us,” Tran said in the interview, adding, “As an Army veteran myself, I take deep offense to what is happening to my fellow brothers and sisters who don the uniform. And this is my time to step up and be proud of a piece of legislation where I can do something to help them.”
This comes as the Trump administration and Musk have fired nearly 6,000 veterans in their gutting of federal government agencies and employees. And more than 1,000 people were fired from the Department of Veterans Affairs. It wasn’t long before reports came trickling in of disabled veterans being fired and promptly kicked out of their workplaces. One fired veteran called it a “heart-wrenching experience.”
Rep. Derek Tran of California, left, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Now, Democrats are stepping in to do damage control.
“This is not a political game,” Tran wrote in a post on X Wednesday. “[T]his is about protecting the livelihoods of veterans who have served our country honorably & who continue to do so through civilian service. Vets have always had our backs, and now it’s time we step up to have theirs.”
The bill, if passed, would require federal agencies to submit a report on fired veterans to Congress every three months.
Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee expressed their anger over the messy military firings in a press release issued Tuesday.
“Trump and Musk have launched an unwarranted and unjustified attack on the veterans and military spouses who sacrificed so much for all of us,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. “By upending their lives and careers, these groundless firings are a disgraceful assault on heroes who admirably served our country.”
“Our veterans make significant sacrifices in service of our country, but those sacrifices do not seem to matter to President Trump and unchecked billionaire Elon Musk,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the committee.
When Trump isn’t snatching away veterans’ livelihoods, he’s removing its engineering recruiting programs for Black soldiers, firing military spouses from government jobs, and purging Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
According to Tran’s office, 45 co-sponsors in the House joined his bill at its introduction. It’s also been endorsed by the VoteVets political action committee as well as unions like the American Federation of Government Employees and Union Veterans Council.
“The Protect Veteran Jobs Act provides a necessary safeguard by allowing for the reinstatement of veterans who were unfairly removed from their civil service positions. Additionally, the legislation’s reporting requirements create much-needed transparency and accountability, ensuring that no veteran is unjustly pushed out of the workforce without scrutiny,” said William Attig, executive director of the Union Veterans Council AFL-CIO.
The bill faces tough odds in the GOP-led House. Still, its introduction sends a loud and clear message: Democrats are willing to wage war over veterans’ job security.
Campaign Action
