{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-hosts-veterans-town-hall-in-casa-grande/", "Gallego Hosts Veterans Town Hall in Casa Grande", "2025-11-24", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Ruben Gallego", "G000574", "www.gallego.senate.gov", "gallego", "https://www.gallego.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "CASA GRANDE \u2013 Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) hosted a Veterans Town Hall in Casa Grande to hear directly from veterans in Congressional District 6 about the challenges they\u2019re facing, from VA cuts to Trump\u2019s deployment of the National Guard in American cities. This is Senator Gallego\u2019s fourth Veterans Town Hall.\n\nAt the town hall, Senator Gallego spoke about the rise in fraud targeting veterans and encouraged attendees to work with their local Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) to help avoid scams. Representatives from the Arizona Attorney General\u2019s Office were also available to provide attendees with resources. Earlier this year, Senator Gallego supported the Veterans Fraud Reimbursement Actto make it easier for veterans with disabilities to be made financially whole in the event they are defrauded of their benefits.\n\nSenator Gallego also highlighted his work to reverse the Trump administration\u2019s DOGE cuts to the VA earlier this year that resulted in fewer veterans\u2019 services and undermined our nation\u2019s commitments to its veterans.\n\n\u201cSince my time in the House of Representatives and on the VA committee, one thing we\u2019ve always said is that we needed always to have more staff at the VA and we need to have more services because we have a growing population. [\u2026] This has been something that\u2019s been a bipartisan issue until this year,\u201d Senator Gallego said. \u201cWe get into this administration, and right away, there is a promise that they\u2019re going to cut 75,000 VA employees. Now, bigger is not always better. We all understand that we don\u2019t want bureaucracy. We don\u2019t want bloat. But my issue is \u2013 and I am on the VA committee \u2013 is where did this number come from? [\u2026] There was never a report or plan or anything. They just said, we\u2019re going to cut 75,000 people.\u201d\n\nAfter intense pushback from Senator Gallego, the VA announced that it would significantly scale back its planned cuts in July. Still, cuts to many veterans\u2019 services provided by contractors will impact critical programs.\n\nSenator Gallego also spoke about the Department of Defense\u2019s new investigation into fellow Arizona Senator Mark Kelly for his participation in a video reminding members of the military they are under no obligation to comply with illegal orders.\n\n\u201cWhat they were saying was perfectly sane and in line. What we need to understand is not what it says about them. It\u2019s what it says about Donald Trump that he thought what he was hearing was illegal. They\u2019re just restating the Constitution of the United States and the oath that we all take. Why does he think that is such a threat?\u201d said Senator Gallego. \u201cThe idea that any member of Congress \u2013 Senator or [in the] House of Representatives \u2013 should be able to be bullied by the executive, should scare us. It needs to be a clear separation of powers issue. [\u2026] You want your members of Congress to be independent of the presidency. If that\u2019s always in the back of their minds, thinking that something\u2019s coming down the pike, you\u2019re never going to have someone that\u2019s going to be able to step out.\u201d\n\nIn response to a question on the Trump administration deploying the National Guard in U.S. cities, Gallego said: \u201cI do think it\u2019s illegal. I do think that we should not be using U.S. military for civil enforcement. [\u2026] You shouldn\u2019t be using the military to answer all your questions or all your problems. [\u2026] They want to get a reaction from the civilians. [\u2026] They want the drama. They want Americans fighting each other on camera, so that way he could call up more and try to take more power. So I just tell people, like, don\u2019t fall for it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMost of us here served in the military. The military has a very certain role, and that role does not include civil law enforcement. That is and should always be done by local government.\u201d\n\nAt the start of the town hall, Senator Gallego presented Marine Corps League VFW Post 1677 with a proclamation honoring the Marine Corps\u2019 250th anniversary and thanked Arizona\u2019s Marine community for their continued service and leadership. This is the 5th birthday proclamation Senator Gallego has given to local Arizona Marine Corps posts this year.\n\n11/24/25", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-hosts-veterans-town-hall-in-casa-grande/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4374530874192715, "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"}