Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.) is introducing legislation that would seek to rehire veterans terminated without reason under the Trump administration’s mass layoffs across federal departments and agencies.
Tran’s bill would require the government to rehire veterans who were fired without reason since the beginning of President Trump’s term.
It also would require agencies to submit reports to Congress with justification for veteran dismissals, according to the Associated Press.
“They sacrificed so much to protect our country, to defend our freedom. Now they’ve been kicked to the curb,” Tran, an Army veteran told The Associated Press.
Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said almost 6,000 veterans have been fired across the federal government.
Tran said widespread intent to fire government employees is a sign of disruption to the status quo in an effort to advance the wealthy.
“It’s almost like permission to let them do what they want to do, and they feel like they can come in and disrupt by firing, by cutting a bunch of employees just so that they save government or they save this country X amount of dollars, only to transfer that over to tax cuts for them,” Tran told The Associated Press.
The California lawmaker said he hopes Republicans will support his new bill which has impacted representative’s constituents on both sides of the aisle.
“I’ve been trying to get support. I’m trying to not make this a partisan issue. This is just the right thing for our veterans,” Tran said.
“So in my communication with colleagues across the aisle, I want to make sure that they understand this is not a Democratic bill. This is a bill to protect those who served.”
