{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases/hirono-colleagues-blast-secretary-collins-for-politicizing-key-veteran-services-during-shutdown", "Hirono, Colleagues Blast Secretary Collins for Politicizing Key Veteran Services During Shutdown", "2025-10-09", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "HI", "Mazie K. Hirono", "H001042", "www.hirono.senate.gov", "hirono", "https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), U.S. Representative Mark Takano (D-CA), and 10 colleagues in calling out Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins for weaponizing the government shutdown and artificially ending communications with Congress\u2014despite the fact these constituent services have already been funded by multi-year appropriation bills that are not affected by the current government shutdown. The group criticized Collins for spending taxpayer resources to politicize the government shutdown, while simultaneously refusing to assist veterans with their casework.\n\n\u201cCongress has provided the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with multi-year funding, which ensures a government shutdown has minimal impact on veterans\u2019 health care and benefits,\u201d the lawmakers wrote in a letter to VA Secretary Collins. \u201cThat is why we are deeply concerned that your Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (OCLA) refuses to initiate, dispatch, or respond to congressional inquiries on behalf of our veteran constituents. Every single day, veterans and their families come to our offices for help in getting their health care and benefits from VA. Often, they come to us as their last resort. We take those concerns or their specific cases directly to VA and advocate on their behalf. Thus, any delay in responding to this outreach or dispatching their cases will cause harm to the veterans we serve\u2026The Department must revisit this prioritization scheme and dedicate sufficient staff and resources necessary to accomplish the task of responding in a timely manner to ALL constituent casework requests initiated by Congress.\u201d\n\nThe lawmakers pressed the Trump Administration for ending all Congressional communications during the shutdown, even though the office which handles these communications\u2014VA\u2019s Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (OCLA)\u2014has available carryover funding, unrelated to the shutdown, it can use to continue operations: \u201c\u2026[W]e know that previous administrations planned to continue dispatching and responding to congressional inquiries during government shutdowns by utilizing non-furloughed employees. The fact that VA has chosen not to prioritize communication with Congress on policy matters is clearly a leadership decision and a direct affront to our constitutional duty to oversee the work of the Department.\u201d Further, the VA has continued communicating with the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee\u2019s Majority Staff despite ceasing communication with the other Committees\u2019 staff.\n\nThe lawmakers also condemned leaders for violating the Hatch Act in their communications to veterans and VA employees: \u201cTo make matters worse, it appears that leaders within your Department have used congressionally appropriated funds to send politically charged messages to veterans and VA staff about the shutdown in what seem to be clear violations of the Hatch Act. We remind you and your leadership team that we are tracking these violations and taking them very seriously. While the Trump Administration may not enforce the Hatch Act currently, we will not hesitate to investigate these violations.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Senators Hirono and Blumenthal, the letter was also signed by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Angus King (I-ME). In the House, in addition to Representative Takano, the letter was also signed by Representatives Julia Brownley (D-CA), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Herb Conaway (D-NJ), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Tim Kennedy (D-NY), Kelly Morrison (D-MN), and Delia Ramirez (D-IL).\n\nThe full text of the letter is available here and below.\n\nDear Mr. Secretary:\n\nWe write to urge you to reverse your weaponization of the current lapse in appropriations and restore vital congressional communications to ensure our veterans receive the care and benefits they deserve, which are covered by multi-year appropriations and should not be affected by the current shutdown.\n\nCongress has provided the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with multi-year funding, which ensures a government shutdown has minimal impact on veterans\u2019 health care and benefits. That is why we are deeply concerned that your Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs (OCLA) refuses to initiate, dispatch, or respond to congressional inquiries on behalf of our veteran constituents. Every single day, veterans and their families come to our offices for help in getting their health care and benefits from VA. Often, they come to us as their last resort. We take those concerns or their specific cases directly to VA and advocate on their behalf. Thus, any delay in responding to this outreach or dispatching their cases will cause harm to the veterans we serve.\n\nWe understand that a lapse in appropriations requires certain nonessential functions to cease. However, it is imperative that the Department continue to be fully open, transparent and communicative with elected representatives in Congress. This is why we find the October 2, 2025, communication from OCLA Assistant Secretary Don Bergin to our Committees so troubling.\n\nNot only does it show a lack of commitment to the relationship with Congress in overseeing the work that we have mandated to continue during a shutdown, but it also diminishes the role of Senators and Representatives in protecting the health and welfare of our veterans, a concern which we know you share. And nowhere is this lack of prioritization more acutely felt than with respect to casework submitted to OCLA by Member offices. While we understand that, according to Assistant Secretary Bergin, \u201c\u2026casework involving the health and welfare of veterans will be prioritized\u2026\u201d during this lapse in appropriations, it is difficult to rationalize how EVERY veteran-related casework would not be categorized as necessary to protect the life and property of veterans. The Department must revisit this prioritization scheme and dedicate sufficient staff and resources necessary to accomplish the task of responding in a timely manner to ALL constituent casework requests initiated by Congress.\n\nMoreover, we are troubled that Assistant Secretary Bergin asserts that, \u201cVA cannot initiate, dispatch, or respond to congressional request\u2026\u201d during this shutdown. The use of the word \u201ccannot\u201d is likely intentional in this context. It is also greatly misleading. We know that OCLA has carryover funding at its disposal during this shutdown and may choose which activities to prioritize with that funding. Additionally, we know that previous administrations planned to continue dispatching and responding to congressional inquiries during government shutdowns by utilizing non-furloughed employees. The fact that VA has chosen not to prioritize communication with Congress on policy matters is clearly a leadership decision and a direct affront to our constitutional duty to oversee the work of the Department.\n\nTo make matters worse, it appears that leaders within your Department have used congressionally appropriated funds to send politically charged messages to veterans and VA staff about the shutdown in what seem to be clear violations of the Hatch Act. We remind you and your leadership team that we are tracking these violations and taking them very seriously. While the Trump Administration may not enforce the Hatch Act currently, we will not hesitate to investigate these violations.\n\nTo that end, we respectfully request the following information as soon as possible:\n\nPlease provide us with a \u201cstatus of funds\u201d report for the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, along with a specific breakdown of prior fiscal year carryover and a delineation of which activities within OCLA this funding has been dedicated toward.\n\nPlease provide a breakdown of current staffing levels within OCLA, disaggregated by function. Additionally, we would like a breakdown of how many staff have left OCLA since January 3, 2025, disaggregated by reason for their departure to include retirement (regular or VERA), Delayed Resignation Program, termination, reassignment or other.\n\nAccording to Assistant Secretary Bergin\u2019s message, OCLA staff is \u201c\u2026committed to working on government shutdown activities.\u201d Please provide a detailed description of those activities, along with a list of which specific staff are assigned what duties during this shutdown.\n\nWhich if any staff of OCLA are involved in planning for the White House\u2019s planned Reductions in Force during this lapse in appropriations, which appear to violate the law?\n\nWhich if any staff of OCLA have been involved in the shutdown-related messages sent to employees and veterans on behalf of the Department in apparent violation of the Hatch Act?\n\nIt has come to our attention that information has continued to be shared with the House Committee on Veterans Affairs (HVAC) Majority, which has not been shared with either the HVAC Minority or the Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs Majority and Minority, even after the shutdown commenced, contrary to Mr. Bergin\u2019s message. Please provide us with all communications sent to the HVAC Majority of which the Minority was not copied or provided.\n\nMr. Secretary, we respect that you have the difficult task of maintaining access to care and benefits during an uncertain funding environment. However, it is crucial that you view the Congress as a partner in this effort, and not the enemy. Therefore, we encourage you to continue robust communication with Congress and dedicate sufficient time, both staff and your own, to the task.\n\nThank you in advance for your attention to this matter. And we look forward to your timely response.\n\nSincerely,\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "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.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases/hirono-colleagues-blast-secretary-collins-for-politicizing-key-veteran-services-during-shutdown"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.132667064666748, "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"}