Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts cast one of the 50 votes that passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ended veterans' exemption from SNAP's time limit, after voting against a motion to keep that exemption. He voted against guaranteeing funding for the PACT Act, the law for veterans exposed to burn pits, against rehiring veterans fired from federal jobs, against requiring the VA to disclose its workforce-cut plan, and against overturning the VA's ban on abortion care for veterans.
Ricketts voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs and Russell Vought as budget director. Under them the VA planned to cut tens of thousands of jobs, and by fiscal 2026 its hospitals reported a total of 4,712 severe occupational staffing shortages, including 17 at the VA system in Omaha that serves Nebraska.
Pete Ricketts's Votes on Veterans' Benefits and the VA Officials He Confirmed
- Ricketts Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Law That Ended Veterans' SNAP Exemption and Limits Their Medicaid Exemption. On July 1, 2025, Pete Ricketts voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote, so it would have failed without his. Section 10102 ended veterans' exemption from SNAP's time limit, so veterans must show 80 hours a month of work or activity to keep their food stamps beyond three months; around 1.2 million veterans with lower incomes receive SNAP nationally. The law's Medicaid work requirement, which states must start by January 1, 2027, will exempt only a person who is a veteran with a disability rated as total under section 1155 of title 38, so veterans with partial disability ratings must prove their hours.
- Ricketts Voted Against Protecting Veterans' Food Aid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Ricketts voted no on Senator Tammy Duckworth's motion to send the bill back to committee with instructions to change it so it would not reduce or terminate SNAP benefits for Veterans, homeless individuals, young former foster children, and parents of children under 18. It failed 49 to 51. The law as passed eliminates that exemption for veterans, and many states rolled out the stricter work requirement Feb. 1, 2026.
- Ricketts Voted Against Guaranteeing PACT Act Funding for Toxic-Exposed Veterans in February 2025. On February 21, 2025, Ricketts voted no on Senator Richard Blumenthal's amendment to the budget resolution "to ensure full and uninterrupted funding for Department of Veterans Affairs health care and benefits provided by" the PACT Act, the 2022 law for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins. It failed 47 to 52. Burn Pits 360, a veterans' advocacy group, said the amendment would have ensured full and uninterrupted funding for veterans' healthcare and benefits. Days later the VA drew up a plan for cutting over 80,000 jobs; it dropped that plan in July and instead will shed 30,000 total employees through attrition.
- Ricketts Voted Against Rehiring Veterans Fired From Federal Jobs in March 2025. On March 14, 2025, Ricketts voted no on Senator Tammy Duckworth's amendment "to make veteran Federal employees who were involuntarily dismissed without cause eligible for reinstatement and to require reports from Executive agencies on the number of veteran employees fired." It failed 47 to 53. In the weeks before, the VA had announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees and then more than 1,400 probationary employees, and House Appropriations Democrats estimated that nearly 6,000 veterans had been fired across the government.
- Ricketts Voted Against Requiring the VA to Disclose Its Workforce-Cut Plan in August 2025. On August 1, 2025, Ricketts voted no on an amendment requiring the secretary of veterans affairs to give Congress "a report on the plan of the Secretary for Department of Veterans Affairs workforce reduction in fiscal year 2026." It failed 45 to 50. By then the VA was down more than 600 doctors and about 1,900 nurses for the year, and in 2026 it began planning to eliminate 25,000 vacant positions.
- Ricketts Voted to Keep the VA's Ban on Abortion Care for Veterans in March 2026. On March 25, 2026, Ricketts voted no on taking up S.J.Res. 103, a resolution to overturn the VA rule on "Reproductive Health Services." The motion failed 48 to 50. The rule, effective January 30, 2026, prohibits the procedure at VA medical facilities unless the life of the mother is endangered and removed the exceptions for cases where the pregnancy was the result of an act of rape or incest.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Doug Collins, Whose VA Cut Staff and Contracts. On February 4, 2025, Ricketts voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs, and on March 27, 2025 he voted to confirm Paul Lawrence as deputy secretary. Under Collins the department was on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees in fiscal 2025, killed nearly 600 contracts, including one to maintain a gene sequencing device used to develop better cancer treatments, and stopped presuming that male breast cancer in toxic-exposed veterans was service-connected, so the department no longer presumes service connection for male breast cancer. By fiscal 2026 VA facilities reported a total of 4,712 severe occupational staffing shortages, the inspector general found.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Russell Vought, Who Ordered the Layoff Plans. On February 6, 2025, Ricketts voted to confirm Russell Vought as budget director; he was confirmed 53 to 47. On February 26, 2025 Vought's office and the Office of Personnel Management told agencies that Agency Heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force, and a week later the VA's plan called for cutting over 80,000 jobs, later scaled back to about 30,000.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Mehmet Oz, Whose Medicaid Work Rule Exempts Only Fully Disabled Veterans. On April 3, 2025, Ricketts voted to confirm Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. His agency's Medicaid work-requirement rule, which takes effect by January 1, 2027, exempts veterans only if they are rated at total (100%) disability, so veterans with partial disability ratings must report work hours to keep coverage.
What the VA Cuts Under Officials Pete Ricketts Confirmed Mean for Nebraska Veterans
- VA staffing shortages. In fiscal 2026 the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System in Omaha, which serves Nebraska veterans, designated 17 occupations as severe staffing shortages, 11 of them clinical, including medical officers, according to the VA inspector general's report.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pete Ricketts on Veterans
What is Pete Ricketts's record on veterans under Trump?
Pete Ricketts cast a deciding vote for the law that ended veterans' exemption from SNAP's time limit and voted against guaranteeing PACT Act funding, rehiring fired veterans and disclosing the VA's job-cut plan. He voted to confirm Doug Collins and Russell Vought, under whom the VA planned deep staff cuts and the VA's Nebraska-Western Iowa system in Omaha reported 17 severe staffing shortages in fiscal 2026.
Did Pete Ricketts vote to cut SNAP for veterans?
Yes. Pete Ricketts voted against a June 30, 2025 motion to keep the SNAP exemption for veterans and then voted for the final bill, which ended it. Veterans who cannot document 80 hours of work or activity a month can keep SNAP for only three months in three years.
How did Pete Ricketts vote on abortion care at the VA?
Pete Ricketts voted on March 25, 2026 against taking up a resolution to overturn the VA rule that ended abortion at VA facilities except when the patient's life is in danger, and the motion failed 48 to 50. The rule also reinstated the exclusions on abortions and abortion counseling from veterans' medical benefits.
Last updated: 2026-10-25