Derrick Van Orden continues to receive backlash for his “calls for cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs” that make his dangerous agenda clear – Van Orden is a direct threat to Wisconsin veterans’ health care.

Refusing to stand up to indiscriminate firings of veterans and VA employees, threatening a fired veteran employee, and now requesting more cuts to the VA… Derrick Van Orden is not working for Wisconsin veterans. 

In case you missed it:

Wisconsin Independent: Democrats push back on Van Orden’s calls for cuts to the VA

  • The Republican congressman from Prairie du Chien said on May 15 that he hoped there would be cuts made to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
     
  • Democrats and organizers are pushing back on Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s calls for cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
     
  • “When we are going to cut the VA — and I hope you do, sir — this is where you need to make the cut,” Van Orden said to VA Secretary Doug Collins during the hearing…
     
  • “Derrick Van Orden isn’t even trying to hide it — he wants to cut the VA. Van Orden’s dangerous agenda is a direct threat to Wisconsin veterans and their access to quality health care,” said Katie Smith, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
     
  • Since President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency have made sweeping workforce cuts across the federal government, including by firing workers at VA locations in Wisconsin.
     
  • In March, Van Orden threatened a former VA employee who reached out to him on LinkedIn after he was fired from a Los Angeles VA location, according to reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The former employee urged Van Orden to stop the firings, but Van Orden responded that he would be referring him to DOGE, implying that he’d try to get the person fired. “It seems that at 13:46 on a Monday you should have been working for veterans, not posting trash about your boss, President Trump,” Van Orden said.
     
  • …Wisconsin veterans say, the cuts have already disrupted their care, and VA workers say the layoffs have made their work more difficult.
     
  • Opportunity Wisconsin, a left-leaning advocacy group, also commented on the issue on X: “Over 41k veterans in western Wisconsin rely on the VA for everything from health care to financial assistance and education — and yet Rep. Van Orden wants to slash the agency’s budget?”

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