In the News

This story has been updated with information from a congressional hearing on Tuesday morning.

When President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress tonight for the first time since his return to office, Michael Slater will be in the audience at the U.S. Capitol.

Slater, 42, was a probationary employee at the Springfield Vet Center for about seven months until he was fired on Feb. 13 amid the federal government’s purging of thousands of new employees. A veteran who served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan clearing roads of bombs, Slater medically retired from the military about a decade ago and then went into veterans' services.

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, invited Slater to be his guest for tonight’s speech. Trump is expected to lay out his agenda in the address. In Trump’s first six weeks in office, his administration fired tens of thousands of employees as it eyes a trillion-dollar tax cut.

“I think it’s a perfect example of this mindless approach to essential services,” Neal said of the cuts and Slater’s story. “There are going to be some real repercussions from these cuts.”

Neal has heard from other federal workers in Western Massachusetts, like those at the Social Security Administration, about being terminated.

Slater, who lives in Granby, was a program support assistant at the Springfield Vet Center, where he did administrative work and managed the front of the house. His story was featured in The Republican last week.

Last year, Slater decided to take a pay cut from his job as director of veterans' services for the town of South Hadley and join the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Vet Center, which offers services, such as counseling. He felt compelled to do the job because the center helped him when he returned to civilian life years before.

But on Feb. 13, he was terminated in an email. “The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest‚" the letter reads.

But he said his performance review was good.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a recent statement that the layoffs of more than 2,000 people will save money and won’t negatively affect veterans' care.

But now without Slater, a sign on the Springfield Vet Center’s door tells people there’s no one to greet them, and if they don’t have an appointment, to call and leave a message.

“Really what it comes down to is the care of veterans needs to be a bipartisan effort,” Slater said. “When it comes to the federal government and budget constraints, it can’t be a chainsaw used in the VA to cut money. It needs to be a surgical approach.”

The sign on the door at the Springfield Vet Center was referenced at a joint hearing before the House and Senate Veteran Affairs Committees this morning.

U.S. Rep. Herb Conaway, a Democrat from New Jersey, asked a panel of witnesses about shortfalls in health services for veterans.

Patrick Murray, acting executive director of the Washington Office of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., told the committees that the federal Department of Veterans Affairs has been understaffed for years.

“What we’ve seen in the past few weeks is the indiscriminate firing of people not for performance, but simply because they are in a probationary status,” Murray said. “To get those services veterans have earned, it needs to be a fully staffed VA.”

He said the Springfield Vet Center was an example, and read the message on the door, a photo of which he got from Slater, who was also in the gallery.

“That’s reducing services for veterans,” Murray said.

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, commented on the firings. “This is not the way to run a government,” she said. After the termination of probationary employees at the VA, she saw a notice that the department is hiring for 300,000 vacancies. “The word ‘crazy’ comes to mind,” she said.

After sharing his story publicly last week, Slater said he’s heard a lot from people in the community.

“It made the story more personal,” he said. “I think that’s what needs to happen across America right now. These stories need to be personal.”

Several Massachusetts residents will be in Washington, D.C., as their legislators' guests for Trump’s address.

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern is bringing Sue Koehler, a Leominster resident who cares for her disabled adult son. Koehler’s son relies on Medicaid, according to McGovern’s office, which Republicans in Congress have proposed cutting.

“I want the president and Congress to look me in the eye and explain why they think my son’s care is expendable,” Koehler said in a statement. “Medicaid isn’t a handout. It’s a lifeline.”

U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley invited Claire Bergstresser, a probationary employee who was fired from her job at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last month amid the Trump administration’s trimming of the federal workforce.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey invited Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Chrissy Lynch.