With the Trump administration planning mass layoffs of federal employees, freshman Rep. Derek Tran, D-Calif., is trying to make sure veterans are shielded from the fallout.

The Protect Veteran Jobs Act, Tran’s first piece of legislation as a member of Congress, calls for any veterans terminated without reason from the federal government since the start of President Donald Trump’s term be reinstated. The bill would also require federal agencies to report to Congress to provide justifications for the dismissal of veterans.

“The men and women who serve our country deserve our unwavering support. Not broken promises,” said Tran at a press conference Wednesday. “The indiscriminate firing of veterans by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE dishonors the unwavering commitment that these public servants have dedicated to our country. These heroes stepped up for us, and now we must stand up for them.”

Tran, who is a veteran and a former employment lawyer, said in an interview with Spectrum News that this was a personal fight for him, and that it’s even more meaningful that this be his first bill as a member of Congress.

“As the son of Vietnamese refugees, this country took in my parents. I grew up with this huge debt that I wanted to pay back to this country — so I enlisted,” he explained. “When I found out that these veterans were being terminated, recklessly like that, I knew I had to do something.”

According to House Democratic members of the Appropriations Committee, nearly 6,000 veterans have been fired because of the DOGE cuts. Spectrum News reached out to the Office of Personnel Management as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs for comment on exact numbers, but our inquiries went unanswered. 

Sources familiar tell Spectrum News that the bill came together very quickly over the last several days, but has gained traction among Democratic colleagues. Former Congressman Max Rose, D-N.Y., another fellow veteran, returned to Capitol Hill to speak in support of Tran’s bill, and Reps. Mike Levin, D-Calif., Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, and Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, also lent their voice in support Wednesday.

“You hear members from both parties thanking veterans, saying they support veterans. So how could they support — how could any person in the House of Representatives or the United States Senate support the arbitrary firing of 6,000 veterans in the first five weeks of this administration?” questioned Levin, whose district includes Camp Pendleton. 

Albert Ostering, an Air Force veteran, is one of the thousands that have been dismissed as part of the DOGE cuts. Ostering, who worked for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, received the news in an email on Valentine’s Day, without warning to either himself or his supervisor.

“I was fired and let go in the middle of the night. My family relies on my job for our livelihood, our health insurance. And this is not just a blow to my family, but this is also going to disrupt vital projects I was working on as part of the critical infrastructure protection teams with CISA,” said Ostering, who admitted he normally does not publicly identify himself as a veteran, but felt the need to speak up on the issue.

“I didn’t want to be here. I don’t want to be in the limelight,” Ostering told Spectrum News, saying he hopes more veterans will speak out against these firings. “I just want to do what’s best for this country and just use your voice. Get out there and let them know this isn’t right.”

Ostering said he’s looking for jobs, speaking with recruiters and others, though he said he will likely take a substantial pay cut. Despite the trauma of being abruptly fired, Ostering said he would take his job back if Tran’s bill were passed into law, but the fear of having the rug ripped out from under him is not going to go away.

“I feel that my work was important, and I feel that, you know, reversing this would enable me to continue to do the excellent work I’ve been doing thus far,” he said. “I’d still be afraid.”

With Republicans controlling Congress, the bill is unlikely to advance, though Tran said he has been speaking with lawmakers across the aisle about the legislation. He’s still waiting to see if any Republicans will sign on to the bill.

“I don’t think this is a partisan issue at all — this is a veteran issue,” he said. “This is about taking care of those that had our back when we needed them, ready to put their lives on the line for us. And now it’s our turn to have their backs.”