{"id":26136,"date":"2025-01-23T15:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=26136"},"modified":"2025-01-23T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T20:23:10","slug":"following-president-trumps-executive-order-sen-ossoff-working-to-protect-veterans-health-care","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/following-president-trumps-executive-order-sen-ossoff-working-to-protect-veterans-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Following President Trump\u2019s Executive Order,\u00a0Sen. Ossoff Working to Protect Veterans\u2019 Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working to ensure President Trump\u2019s Federal hiring freeze does not impact veterans\u2019 health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Sen. Ossoff and&nbsp;colleagues&nbsp;urged President Trump to exempt VA personnel from his hiring freeze, warning of threats to veterans\u2019 health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On January 20th, President Trump&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/hiring-freeze\/\">issued an Executive Order<\/a>&nbsp;instituting a Federal hiring freeze, which could impact hiring for positions in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe write with urgent concerns about the Presidential Memorandum issued on January 20, 2025, which instituted an immediate hiring freeze, with few exceptions, across the federal civil service. Veterans have earned and deserve the best quality health care and benefits possible. Delivering on that sacred promise starts with ensuring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has the appropriate personnel in place to serve them,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff and&nbsp;the group&nbsp;wrote to President Trump.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cAs written, this Memorandum could dramatically impair the ability of veterans across the country to get the care and benefits they desperately need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMr. President, to prevent the delay or denial of life-saving services and benefits for our nation\u2019s heroes, we urge you to provide an immediate, clear, and full exemption to VA personnel from your hiring freeze,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>the Senators continued.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/01\/22\/trumps-federal-hiring-freeze-raises-fears-about-va-medical-care\/\">report<\/a>&nbsp;by the Military Times, the Veterans Health Administration needs to hire more than 40,000 new workers annually to maintain VA medical sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues working to protect Georgia\u2019s veterans and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this month, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-launches-inquiry-into-mail-delays-impacting-georgia-veterans\/\">launched an inquiry<\/a>&nbsp;with the U.S. Postmaster General after receiving reports from Georgians that they are receiving prescriptions late and appointment notices after their scheduled appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last month, Sens. Ossoff, Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND)\u2019s bipartisan\u00a0<em>Gold Star Children Education Act<\/em>\u00a0to support the education of children after the loss of a parent who served was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-bill-to-support-families-of-fallen-u-s-servicemembers-signed-into-law\/\">signed into law<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2025-01-23-Letter-to-POTUS-on-VA-hiring-freeze.pdf\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read Sen. Ossoff\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working to ensure President Trump\u2019s Federal hiring freeze does not impact veterans\u2019 health care. Today, Sen. Ossoff and&nbsp;colleagues&nbsp;urged President Trump to exempt VA personnel from his hiring freeze, warning of threats to veterans\u2019 health care. On January 20th, President Trump&nbsp;issued an Executive Order&nbsp;instituting a Federal hiring freeze, which [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26136","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/26136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/26136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26138,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/26136\/revisions\/26138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}