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Chicago, IL — In response to reporting from the Lake County News-Sun that details how thanks to Trump and Elon Musk, several employees at North Chicago’s James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center are now without a job. In response, the Democratic Party of Illinois released the following statement:
“Trump and Musk’s firing of dedicated public servants is not an empty threat—and it’s happening right here in our backyard. These are hardworking health care workers, emergency personnel and our neighbors who are left without work–thanks to two cruel men at the top making illegal decisions. Not only are they destroying the livelihoods of the Illinoisans they’ve fired, they are impacting the quality of care for 35,000 of our state’s veterans and active duty servicemembers who depend on Lovell. Unlike the ILGOP, Illinois Democrats aren’t sitting idly. From their districts to D.C., Democrats are out demanding answers and fighting for the jobs of our state’s federal workforce.”
Key excerpts from Lake County News-Sun: Trump administration cuts 18 jobs at North Chicago’s Lovell health care center: ‘It’s an outrageous betrayal’
By: Steve Sadin
- [Adam Mulvey’s] His passion to serve his country, and especially veterans, remained a constant in his life. Hearing about the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, he said it was a perfect fit. It is the only facility in the country that cares for both veterans and active duty personnel simultaneously.
- “We made plans for anything which would overwhelm the emergency department,” he said. “We dealt with worst-case scenarios. I led an active shooter training at (Naval Station) Great Lakes. It was about how the hospital would deal with mass casualties.”
- Nevertheless, in an email he received in the middle of the night on Feb. 13, Mulvey said he learned he was no longer employed at the hospital, 39 days before becoming eligible for all the protections provided to a federal employee in his classification.
- Mulvey was one of 18 Lovell workers who lost their jobs, along with 6,000 veterans nationwide between Feb. 13 and 24, as part of the cost-cutting efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
- “I called my supervisor and he was stunned,” Mulvey said. “This wasn’t performance-based. I felt insulted and aggravated. They fired employees who couldn’t fight back. We are already understaffed.”
Not only is Lovell Federal Health Care Center the only hospital in Illinois’s 10th Congressional District devoted to serving veterans, it is the only hospital in the entire country that also serves as the principal health care provider for every US Naval recruit. Illinois Democrats like U.S. Representative Brad Scnheider (IL-10) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth have repeatedly sounded the alarm against federal worker firings that impact veterans.
