Kansas Senator Roger Marshall 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.
Marshall voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs and Russell Vought as budget director. Under them the VA cut about 30,000 jobs, and in fiscal 2026 the VA Eastern Kansas system in Topeka and Leavenworth designated 70 occupations as severe staffing shortages. When an Oakley resident raised the job cuts affecting veterans at a March 2025 town hall, Marshall abruptly ended the meeting.
Roger Marshall's Votes and Statements on Veterans' Benefits and VA Staffing
- Marshall Cast One of the 50 Votes for a Law That Ended Veterans' SNAP Exemption. On July 1, 2025, Roger Marshall 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. Nationally, around 1.2 million veterans with lower incomes receive SNAP, and many states rolled out the stricter work requirement Feb. 1, 2026.
- Marshall Voted Against Protecting Veterans' Food Aid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in June 2025. On June 30, 2025, Marshall 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, former foster youth 24 years of age or younger or for parents with children under 18 years of age." It failed 49 to 51. The law as passed eliminates that exemption for veterans, who can lose SNAP after three months unless they document their hours.
- Marshall Voted Against Guaranteeing PACT Act Funding for Toxic-Exposed Veterans in February 2025. On February 21, 2025, Marshall 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.
- Marshall Voted Against Rehiring Veterans Fired From Federal Jobs in March 2025. On March 14, 2025, Marshall 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.
- Marshall Voted Against Requiring the VA to Disclose Its Workforce-Cut Plan in August 2025. On August 1, 2025, Marshall 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.
- Marshall Voted to Keep the VA's Ban on Abortion Care for Veterans in March 2026. On March 25, 2026, Marshall 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."
- Marshall Voted to Confirm Doug Collins, Whose VA Cut Staff and Contracts. On February 4, 2025, Marshall voted to confirm Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs. 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.
- Marshall Voted to Confirm Russell Vought, Who Ordered the Layoff Plans. On February 6, 2025, Marshall 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 30,000.
- Marshall Said He Would Double Down on DOGE's Cuts as They Reached the VA. Marshall said on Newsmax that if he was Elon Musk, he would "double down, not slow down," Kansas Public Radio reported on March 1, 2025. A DOGE tool at the VA flagged more than 2,000 contracts for cancellation, and VA officials have said they killed nearly 600 contracts overall, ProPublica reported.
- Marshall Ended an Oakley Town Hall After Residents Raised Job Cuts Affecting Veterans. At a town hall in Oakley on March 1, 2025, a local resident raised the administration's funding freezes and job cuts affecting veterans, and after the exchange Marshall abruptly ended the meeting as members of the crowd booed and shouted, saying "We don't have time for everyone to stand up," Kansas Public Radio reported. About 20 percent of federal workers are employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the station noted, and the VA went on to cut nearly 30,000 employees that year.
What the VA Cuts Roger Marshall Voted For Mean at Kansas VA Hospitals
- VA hospital shortages. In fiscal 2026 the VA Eastern Kansas Healthcare System in Topeka designated 70 occupations as severe staffing shortages, 40 of them clinical, and the Wichita Healthcare System in Kansas designated 20, 13 of them clinical, according to the VA inspector general's report.
- Mental health care. A VA mental health worker wrote that "the number of new patients seeking help at their Kansas facility was far too high, making it 'unethical to accept more veterans in our clinics,'" ProPublica reported, as the department had around 500 fewer psychologists and psychiatrists than a year earlier.
Frequently Asked Questions About Roger Marshall on Veterans
What is Roger Marshall's record on veterans under Trump?
Roger Marshall 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 cut about 30,000 jobs and Kansas VA systems in Topeka and Wichita designated dozens of severe staffing shortages.
Did Roger Marshall vote to cut SNAP for veterans?
Yes. Roger Marshall 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 beyond three months only if they meet the rule.
What happened at Roger Marshall's Oakley town hall?
Roger Marshall ended a March 1, 2025 town hall in Oakley after residents raised job cuts affecting veterans, walking out as members of the crowd booed and shouted, Kansas Public Radio reported. Earlier he had said that if he was Elon Musk he would "double down, not slow down" on federal cuts.
How did Roger Marshall vote on abortion care at the VA?
Roger Marshall 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