By Chris Horne – 06/04/25 / 04:27 PM EST
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Hosted by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va., 3rd), Democratic members of the Steering and Policy Committee listened to testimony of the struggles of veterans during the first four months of the Trump administration.
Scott was joined by committee members Nanette Barragan (D-Calif., 44th), Mike Thompson (D-Calif., 4th) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill., 2nd) in the Brothers Auditorium on the campus of Norfolk State University.
The members heard testimony from four witnesses who represent veterans and their concerns.
“Don’t deny us what we were promised by Abraham Lincoln,” said Susan Hippen, a retired Navy Master Chief who represents the Veterans of Military Families Caucus. She was invoking Lincoln’s pledge to care for American veterans and their families in his second inaugural address in March 1865.
Hippen said she has visited the new veterans’ clinic in Chesapeake several times, and it has about a third of the necessary patient treatment teams.
“You walk in, there’s one person,” she said. “You look at the pharmacy, there’s one window open. There’s no one in radiology. There’s no optometry open.”
Scott said he’s not surprised, given how the new clinic has been hiring.
“Some were offered jobs and then those jobs were rescinded,” he said. “They’ve got pending layoffs, so nobody wants to come into a group as a provisional employee.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs told WAVY Scott is “lying to veterans” about the Chesapeake clinic, and sent this statement to WAVY, through press secretary Pete Kasperowicz:
“The North Battlefield Clinic is exactly where it should be in terms of staffing. After opening April 17 with some 150 staff, it now employs 185 people and is actively recruiting for 243 additional positions as part of its phased growth plan. As of now, the clinic has 6,810 enrolled Veterans and has completed 4,000 patient visits in the last six weeks. Over the next 20 days, the facility is scheduled to complete 9,000 additional appointments.”
Congressional Democrats are pointing to the Trump administration’s cutbacks and layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“It means longer lines at VA medical centers and hospitals, and crowded waiting rooms,” said Robin Kelly.
Del. Jackie Glass (D-Norfolk) served as a cryptographer aboard USS Nimitz and said access to health care is getting tougher, especially for those who are in crisis.
“I see it my own family,” Glass said. “Trying to find a provider, specifically a mental health provider that takes TRICARE, it’s getting non-existent.”
Hippen said veterans now face more obstacles to get disability benefits.
She wants the Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs to “stop using contract doctors to re-examine veterans who are submitting disability claims. Military doctors already diagnosed us.”
Scott said he’ll gather all the information from Tuesday’s testimony and work it through the budget process, because in order to make improvements to service and access a reality, the money will have to come from Capitol Hill.