WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a hearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC), U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) pressed Mark Engelbaum, the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Human Resources and Administration / Operations, Security and Preparedness at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), about the lack of communication from the VA about cancelled contracts that have Maine’s veteran community concerned.

The hearing comes on the heels of mass firings and contract cancellations implemented by the VA at the request of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Last week, Senator King sent a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins asking about the cancellation of hundreds of contracts — including a radiology contractor at Togus VA Medical Center required by law. In his letter, the Senator requested a response by the end of day on March 7, 2025. Four days later, Secretary Collins and the VA have yet to answer.

“What about these contracts? I saw the little video of the Secretary the other day proudly saying we have eliminated 600 contracts and we are going to save all this money. I want to know what the contracts are. We have been asking for a week, and we are getting no answers. What are those 585 contracts for? Because I fear that they are for mental health counselors, or radiology technicians, or maintenance. Those contracts are for something. It is an insult to this committee and to the United States Senate that we have no transparency whatsoever on what these contracts are. That is a pretty simple ask. Will you take that question back, Mr. Engelbaum,” asked Senator King.

“Senator, it would be my pleasure. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of information on specific contracts, but I will take that back,” replied Engelbaum.

“Well, somebody knows. And I don't expect you to know, but somebody knows what the contracts are because they made a decision to cut them, and I think that information should be shared with this committee. It is hard for me to understand what's going on here except a motivation to show that we are cutting the workforce for relatively small returns in terms of the overall budget of the agency. I think [Senator Hassan] used the term meat cleaver. The operative term is chainsaw. That is what that grinning guy is using, a chainsaw, instead of a thoughtful process,” said Senator King. 

Representing one of the states with the highest rates of military families and veterans per capita, Senator King is a staunch advocate for America’s servicemembers and veterans. A member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), he works to ensure American veterans receive their earned benefits and that the VA is properly implementing various programs such as the PACT Act, the State Veterans Homes Domiciliary Care Flexibility Act, and the John Scott Hannon Act. In early February, in a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Senator King joined his colleagues in urging for immediate action to secure veterans’ personal information provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a measure that would protect millions of veterans’ medical records stored in VA’s computer systems.

This year, Senator King was honored by the Disabled American Veterans as its 2025 Legislator of the Year. Last year, he was recognized by the Wounded Warrior Project as the 2024 Legislator of the Year for his “outstanding legislative effort and achievement to improve the lives of the wounded, ill, and injured veterans.” Most recently, he joined SVAC Ranking Member Senator Blumenthal in writing a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins raising concerns over proposed $1 spending limits on VA purchase cards which are used to pay for gas to transport disabled veterans to apportionments, buy medical supplies and more.  He also joined a group of his SVAC colleagues on a letter to Secretary Collins demanding immediate answers on plans to cut the VA workforce by 83,000 employees — which includes at least 20,000 veterans.

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