Patty Murray
21:33 - 22:19
“I'm very concerned by the actions by this administration that have demoralized a lot of our VA research staff and created instability in research funding and really put up barriers that has slowed the research process. On the very first day of the Trump administration, all VA research staff became subject to a hiring freeze.”
- Speaker
- Patty Murray
- Timestamp
- 21:33 – 22:19
- Community
- Alaska News
- Captured at
- July 22, 2026
From the transcript
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. Look, I think senators on both sides of this aisle have a real appreciation of VA's research enterprise, which has been at the forefront of cutting-edge science for more than 100 years. It's led to breakthroughs like the pacemaker, the first successful liver transplant, the nicotine patch, and CT scanning. But I'm not sure that the Trump administration has that same appreciation, and I'm very concerned by the actions by this administration that have demoralized a lot of our VA research staff and created instability in research funding and really put up barriers that has slowed the research process. On the very first day of the Trump administration, all VA research staff became subject to a hiring freeze.
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