April 09, 2025

At Hearing, Warren Fights Back Against Efforts to Purge Civilians and Women from the Military, Calls for Protecting Child Care, Education Programs for Troops

Washington, D.C. – At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered opening remarks calling out how attacks on the civilian workforce at the Department of Defense (DOD), attacks on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and attempts to push women out of combat roles all harm our national security.

Senator Warren also highlighted the need to improve child care services for servicemembers and their families and the importance of properly implementing programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness and the Tuition Assistance program, which make it easier for servicemembers to get the education benefits they’ve earned.

Transcript: Opening Statement at Hearing to receive testimony on Department of Defense personnel policies and programs in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2026 and the Future Years Defense Program
Senate Armed Services Committee
April 9, 2025

As Delivered

Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, our annual posture review hearing provides the Department and the military services the opportunity to discuss their personnel priorities for the coming year. It is also a chance for members of this subcommittee to continue to address the major challenges confronting our all-volunteer force. After all, our ability to defend ourselves and defeat our adversaries depends on brave men and women stepping up and volunteering to serve.

So I am pleased to see the military services are making progress in addressing their recruiting challenges since our last posture hearing. It’s critical that we welcome and support anyone who wants to serve their country.

But in just the last two months, President Trump has fired General CQ Brown and Admiral Lisa Franchetti. It sends a chilling message about who is—and who is not—welcome in our military. Secretary Hegseth has removed the military’s top legal advisors, and the Army has reportedly cut training on combat medicine and the laws of war. Secretary Hegseth has announced plans to fire or push out 50,000 to 60,000 civilians, and he has already fired civilians who do everything from acquisitions to missile defense to child care for military families.

So let’s start with the civilian workforce. As Secretary Hegseth told this committee during his confirmation process, civilians are “important” and “provide continuity and expertise to our armed forces.” DOD civilians are not just critical to supporting the military, they’re also a bargain for taxpayers. The most recent study from the Federal Salary Council found civilian employees earned nearly 25 percent less than their counterparts in the private sector. They come to work because they believe in the most important mission we have, and that is to keep Americans safe.

But what are co-presidents Trump and Musk doing?

Well, just last week, President Trump signed an illegal executive order attacking federal unions and stripping federal employees of their rights. At DOD, this won’t make us safer. This won’t make us more efficient – it will diminish morale and harm recruiting.

DOGE has plans to slash the DOD’s workforce by 8 percent. The results will fall into one of three buckets—none of them are good.

First, military manpower could be pressed into service to accomplish tasks more appropriately performed by civilians. Or, the federal government could pay billions more to backfill these employees by using contractors. Or, critical work could just be left undone.

So far, neither Elon Musk nor Secretary Hegseth has given any indication of how they plan to deal with the workload that these civilian employees currently perform.

As part of the 8% planned reduction, Elon Musk has taken a chainsaw to DOD’s probationary workforce. Think about what that means. It means firing workers who have been recently promoted or who have been hired to fill a critical need, often to fill gaps identified by members of this very committee.

The law makes very clear that the Secretary must make sure that reductions do not jeopardize our national security. Specifically, the law, 10 U.S.C. 129(a), mandates that the Secretary may not reduce the civilian workforce “unless the Secretary conducts an appropriate analysis of the impacts of such reductions on workload, military force structure, lethality, readiness, operational effectiveness, stress on the military force, and fully burdened costs.” We have no indication that this analysis has occurred, and I look forward to working with the members of this subcommittee to ensure that this administration complies with the law.

It’s also important for this subcommittee to understand how damaging the Trump administration’s efforts to shut down the CFPB will be for servicemembers and their families. An entire division of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau functions as the cop on the beat to enforce servicemembers’ consumer rights, and it has been remarkably effective. The CFPB has discovered more than $363 million in financial scams directly affecting our servicemembers and veterans, and it has gotten that $363 million returned directly to the servicemembers and vets who were scammed. Dismantling the CFPB will devastate the enforcement of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act and the Military Lending Act, which provides special protections to servicemembers. For example, current law permits servicemembers to break their lease if they’re deployed or their duty station is transferred. The law also protects servicemembers from being foreclosed on or having their car repossessed without a court order. Without the CFPB to enforce these key laws, servicemembers are now vulnerable to scams and predatory practices that distract from the mission and undermine our military readiness.

I also continue to be concerned that this administration does not understand how essential women are to our military. None of our military branches would have met their recruiting goals if women had not volunteered, and we cannot afford to dismiss the talents of more than half of our population. I am very concerned that this administration is more focused on pushing women out of combat roles and reinstalling a glass ceiling that will make us weaker.

There are several topics I want to focus on with our witnesses today.

First, childcare. We need to make sure that servicemembers have access to high quality, affordable child care. The most recent Blue Star Families survey confirmed that child care “continues to be a top barrier to employment for active-duty spouses.” Failing to address these shortfalls threatens retention and will drive out the military families we need.

And second, making sure servicemembers receive the benefits they deserve and are protected against predatory companies. To thank servicemembers for the sacrifices they make, Congress has created programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Tuition Assistance Program, making it easier for servicemembers to get the education they want and that they need. I look forward to discussing how we can improve those programs in a bipartisan fashion.

I want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to your testimony.

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