King: “You Just Lost My Vote,” After He Grills VA Nominee Over Cuts

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), in a hearing of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (SVAC), questioned a Trump Administration nominee about the reckless approach the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has taken with regard to contract reductions. In a tense exchange with Dr. Karen Brazell, the nominee to serve as the VA Under Secretary for Benefits, Senator King directly asked if she had been involved with the contract cancellation process. Throughout the line of questioning, Dr. Brazell refused to provide a straightforward answer, even after several attempts from Senator King, to find out whether she could be credited with helping create the framework for the murky contract cancellation process.

Senator King began, "Asking you a pretty straightforward question. Did you have anything to do whatsoever with the review of the contract of your former employer? That is a pretty straightforward yes or no question: I did, or I didn't."

"Senator, I have not reviewed the contracts with my former employer" said Dr. Brazell.

"That is not what I asked. I asked, did you have anything to do whatsoever with that review," Senator King repeated

"Senator, I have not reviewed any contracts of my former employer. Again, I am not a contracting authority," replied Dr. Brazell.

Senator King asked again, "That's the third time you've given me that answer and for the third I'm going to say, 'that's not what I'm asking.' I'm asking were you involved anyway whatsoever with the review with the contract of your former employer."

"Senator King, I have answered that. I am not a contracting official or contracting authority. I have not reviewed the contracts of my former employer," responded Dr. Brazell.

"Your failure to answer that question - you just lost my vote on this nomination," said Senator King.

Failing to receive an adequate answer to his initial line of questioning, Senator King moved on by asking Dr. Brazell about what she meant in an earlier statement about "taking risks" regarding how the VA handles veterans care and disperses benefits.

Senator King continued, "In your opening statement, you used the term 'risk' three or four times or five times with regard to people under your supervision. I don't want the people under your supervision that are making decisions about benefits for veterans taking risks. What in the world did you mean by taking risks?"

"Senator, when you employ new technology, and I think you know that from your time at L.L Bean per our discussion when I visited you, there are opportunities for folks when we - you have got to learn your mistakes. You have to fail fast. You do that in a test environment, understanding the constraints of the technology and how it is going to interface with the legacy systems when you go to a live environment. So, test it in a production environment. Fail fast, learn faster," said Dr. Brazell.

"I just don't like the idea of a test environment and risks being taken with people's lives and disability compensation. If you are talking about working a model, that is one thing. But if you are talked about real people and real decisions, the idea of risks and experimenting is not acceptable," responded 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.

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 wounded, ill and injured veterans."

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