WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), in a special hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) hosted by Ranking Member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), spoke with Shernice Mundell, a veteran and former Office of Personnel Management (OPM) employee, who was terminated during the mass federal layoffs implemented by the Trump Administration.

During the exchange, Senator King asked Mundell about her probationary status and job performance at OPM; this probationary classification can apply to any employee who is a new hire or has been awarded a promotion in the last year and isn’t necessarily an indicator of job performance. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins and Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell were invited to join the spotlight hearing but chose to not attend. The hearing comes on the heels of mass firings and contract cancellations executed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at the request of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“Shernice. We've got you here. You were at OPM. Did you get a poor performance letter,” asked Senator King.

“Yes, I did. Yeah,” replied Mundell.

“Was that consistent with your prior evaluations,” again asked Senator King.

“No, like I said, I was promoted a month after I had started, and as far as I know, my performance was fine, my supervisor referred me to another position, and I interviewed for it and was hired. It was all within the same department, and it was a promotion,” said Mundell.

“So, there was no notice to you of any performance issues before you got this letter,” questioned Senator King.

“Correct,” responded Mundell.

“I feel like a psychiatrist. How did it make you feel when you got a letter that said poor performance,” asked Senator King.

“I was shocked. I was kind of expecting something to happen because I had read Project 2025, so I knew what they wanted to do with the federal employees. I didn't think it was going to happen as quickly as it happened, but about two weeks before, I had started getting emails saying that I was in my probationary period and my job was being reevaluated to see if it was still necessary,” said Mundell.

“So, you were on probation when you got the firing. Is that true of people, other people you know, that were fired? Basically, that it was everybody was on probation,” Senator King questioned again.

“Yes, right. It was about 75 people on the call when I got fired,” said Mundell.

“And none of them that you know of had performance issues. It was just the fact that they were on probation,” asked Senator King.

“Correct. None of them had, as far as I know, in the one department that I came from, we had never had performance reviews, because they were only there since August,” responded Mundell.

“Now, the problem with firing people on probation is it's not rational, in the sense that there's no analysis behind it,” commented 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. Recently, 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. In addition, he helped pass the Veterans COLA Act, which increased benefits for 30,000 Maine veterans and their families.

Recently, Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation alongside SVAC Chairman Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) to improve care coordination for veterans who rely on both VA health care and Medicare. In February, 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.” Senator King recently joined SVAC Ranking Member Senator Blumenthal in writing a letter to Secretary 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. Senator King also joined his colleagues in raising concerns over proposed plans to terminate 83,000 VA employees.

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