ICYMI Video: Blumenthal & Education Leaders Discuss How Veterans are Harmed by the Trump Administration's Dismantling of Department of Education

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) spoke at a spotlight forum on the Trump Administration's dangerous effort to dismantle the Department of Education, highlighting how efforts negatively impact our nation's veterans. At the forum, Blumenthal spoke with Rachel Gittleman, President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, and Amy Loyd, CEO of All4Ed, about how veterans are struggling to access critical resources to help them assimilate to civilian life through education and skills training.

"I want to talk about an area of interest to me as the Ranking Member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I'd like you to tell me how the dismantling of the Department of Education has affected veterans," asked Blumenthal.

"Two of the many programs that I helped administer were the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and the Total and Permanent Disability Discharge Program. Both of those programs disproportionately benefit and help veterans, many of whom are saddled with student debt," said Gittleman. "And my office, like so many other offices in federal student aid, was completely gutted, leaving no one to help answer the phones, no one to help access the incredibly complicated and convoluted system that is these discharge programs."

"In our nation, we're moving towards a skills-based economy. This is so important for veterans transitioning into the world of being a civilian. How do they translate their incredible skills that they have earned through their hard work and dedication to our nation into ways that they can prove their skills and practice through economic opportunities so that they can raise their families, have lives of choice," said Loyd. "But in this moment of fiscal uncertainty and the bait-and-switch and the instability and chaos that this Administration is engendering in the education world, states are now walking back and being very cautious and investing in innovation. I worry about the implications of how our veterans may not be able to meaningfully translate their skills into practice in ways that they should be able to powerfully, simply because we're in a moment of uncertainty that's leading to a lot of fear in the education system."

A video of Blumenthal's interaction with Gittleman and Loyd at the forum can be found here, and a transcript is below.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): Thank you all for being here, and thank you to Senator Hirono for bringing us together. You know, I think you should know that not only do we appreciate your being here, but your testimony is actually reaching more people than an official hearing would. That's been our experience with these spotlight hearings, because livestream enables us to get this hearing out to people, and for whatever reason, I think it's because of the topics, people are really interested in this stuff, and no more so on any other topic than education.

I want to talk about an area of interest to me as the Ranking Member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and I'd like you to tell me how the dismantling of the Department of Education has affected veterans. You know, people think, oh, veterans is just veterans programs. It's just VA health care. It's just, you know, the Veterans Service Organization, like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, they're in a world of their own. But in fact, veterans are affected by SNAP cutbacks. They're affected by health care insurance cutbacks. They're affected by everything that affects everyone else. In fact, in many instances, more so. And the reason-part of the reason-I'm asking about veterans is because this Administration talks a lot about veterans. And this Secretary of Education-as I know personally because she's from Connecticut. We know her well, I know her particularly well, as she was an opponent of mine in my first Senate election-seems to care a lot about veterans. Well, in reality, not so much. So I'm going to turn the floor over to you, in no particular order, just to talk about maybe the impacts of dismantling the Department of Education on our nation's veterans.

Rachel Gittleman: Thank you. Senator. My name is Rachel Gittleman. I used to work at the Department of Education in the Ombudsman's office in federal student aid until I was unlawfully fired in March. And one of the many programs that I helped administer, or two of the many programs that I helped administer, were the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and the Total and Permanent Disability Discharge Program. Both of those programs disproportionately benefit and help veterans, many of whom are saddled with student debt. Because the GI Bill has not kept up with the cost of college, as college has increased exorbitantly throughout the years. And my office, like so many other offices in federal student aid, was completely gutted, leaving no one to help answer the phones, no one to help access the incredibly complicated and convoluted system that is these discharge programs. Right? And it leaves those people who are most vulnerable, who need the most amount of help to actually get these discharge programs without anyone to answer the phone. And in fact, under the last Administration, federal student aid had already outsourced as much as they possibly could to contractors before this gutting. Right? So the programs were already being taped together by duct tape. Right? And then they fired the staff that was responsible for oversight, for administration, for assisting borrowers to the detriment of our veterans, our teachers, our public servants. Thanks.

Blumenthal: Great point. Thank you.

Amy Loyd: And if I may chime in, please, Senator, theoretically, in our nation, we're moving towards a skills based economy, right? We should hire people and value people for what they know and what they're able to do. This is so important for veterans transitioning into the world of being a civilian. How do they translate their incredible skills that they have earned through their hard work and dedication to our nation into ways that they can prove their skills and practice through economic opportunities so that they can raise their families, have lives of choice. And so I think about our veterans, and the reality is that our employers and our nation do not have the Rosetta Stone to magically translate from skills to credentials. Credentials and degrees are still the best proxies that we have in our nation to show that people are skilled. Higher education is increasingly moving to credit for prior learning, credit for prior experiences. States are thinking about innovative ways to honor the skills and experiences and credentials that our veterans bring. But in this moment of fiscal uncertainty and the bait and switch and the instability and chaos that this Administration is engendering in the education world, states are now walking back and being very cautious and investing in innovation, in being bold and thinking about how they're supporting learners of all walks of life to really thrive in our schools and our institutions of higher education and in our workplaces. And so I worry about the implications of how our veterans may not be able to meaningfully translate their skills into practice in ways that they should be able to powerfully, simply because we're in a moment of uncertainty that's leading to a lot of fear in the education system, of trying new ways of doing things.

Blumenthal: Great point. You know, I'm reminded of the fact, Ms. Gittleman, that a lot of veterans have been let go. They've been fired. One third of everyone who works at the VA is a veteran, and they have fired literally 30,000 people. They were going to fire 83,000, but we pushed back. So a lot of the veterans, perhaps not surprisingly, go into public service, and they need loan forgiveness. The GI bill-as I know from two sons who were in the service and have used the GI bill and have looked to their parents from time to time for a little bit of help-the GI bill is great, but it doesn't cover everything, and the impacts of failing to provide sufficiently for skill training, career and technical education, goes to another point which is transferring these programs from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor, which actually, I'm sure someone has said this already, costs an additional $262,000 in FY25 and $807,000 in FY26. The most common point I hear from businesses, big and small, around the state of Connecticut is I can't find skilled people to fill these jobs. I can't find people with the right training to fill open positions. And, you know, it should be the job of the Department of Education to do this educating. So I'm glad that you raised that point.

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