{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-statement-on-senate-confirmation-of-trump-loyalist-john-bartrum-to-lead-vas-health-care-system", "Blumenthal statement on Senate Confirmation of Trump Loyalist John Bartrum to Lead VA's Health Care System", "2025-12-19", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", "blumenthal", "https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press", "scraper", "[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today released a statement on the Senate\u2019s confirmation of John Bartrum to be the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Under Secretary for Health. Bartrum has served as a senior advisor to VA Secretary Doug Collins since January.\n\n\u201cTrump political acolyte John Bartrum is the wrong choice to lead VA\u2019s health care system. As a Senior Advisor to VA Secretary Collins, he has played a key role in stonewalling and slow walking Congress and veterans\u2014 continuously hiding information about VA\u2019s budget, community care wait times, contract cancellations, and staffing plans. He has also refused to implement laws as Congress intended\u2014 playing a central role in withholding critical funding required to be distributed to homeless service providers who support nearly 25,000 of our most vulnerable veterans. His lack of transparency and responsiveness to Congress is wholly unacceptable for someone who will now be tasked with leading the largest health care system in our country at a critical inflection point, and I am disappointed in this body\u2019s decision to confirm him.\u201d\n\nAs a senior advisor for Collins, Bartrum has played a key role in the firing of thousands of health care staff, the politicization of the VA research publication process, and the cancellation of thousands of VA contracts. He has also refused to implement laws as Congress intended, including the bipartisan Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare & Benefits Improvement Act. He is continuing to withhold critical funding mandated under this law for organizations housing and providing critical resources for more than 25,000 homeless veterans.\n\nThe Under Secretary for Health is tasked with overseeing the VA health care system\u2014the largest integrated health care system in the country\u2014which provides care to more than nine million enrolled veterans.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-statement-on-senate-confirmation-of-trump-loyalist-john-bartrum-to-lead-vas-health-care-system"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.585950842127204, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}