Memorandum: VA staff cuts will decimate veterans healthcare and benefits

Losing 30,000 VA staff will decimate VA’s ability to deliver quality healthcare and benefits. Veterans will suffer. And this is just one step in the plan laid out in Project 2025, to demonize, downsize, and privatize Veterans care.

• Around 17,000 employees have already left the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), many of whom are still being paid but are no longer doing work on behalf of veterans under the Deferred Resignation Plan. VA expects another 12,000 to leave by the end of the fiscal year (September 30th), some under Voluntary Early Retirement Authority. The 30,000 total is approximately a 6% reduction in the workforce, which is far short of Secretary Collins’ previously announced plan of cutting 15%.
• This comes less than a month after VA’s June announcement they would pay the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) $726,000 to “ensure legally compliant Reduction in Force (RIF) procedures.”
  • Did OPM advise against using RIF after reviewing the state of the agency?
  • Or did Collins make the decision without their analysis – and if so, will OPM return unused funds?
• The additional wave of hospital closures expected in the wake of MAGA’s massive cuts to Medicaid may have also contributed to the decision to not cut as deeply as planned: Republicans’ slash-and-burn approach to public services will leave veterans with less “choice” available in the community.
• The whipsaw announcements coming out of VA are completely on-brand for this administration: huge promises made by inexperienced appointees unfamiliar with the missions or accomplishments of the agencies they oversee, hasty implementation of initiatives that have unforeseen consequences and need to be rapidly walked back, court losses, lying and attacking when questioned, ultimately wilting in the face of public pressure, and then declaring victory when a fraction of the goal is accomplished.
• Even one of the DOGE plants in VA was forced to admit that VA “works. It’s not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins.”

Trump and his administration say these cuts won’t impact Veterans care. They are lying. These cuts are already harming Veterans. And losing 30,000 VA staff will make the problem worse.

• Early in 2025, DOGE fired 2400 VA staff. While some were eventually rehired, some may be fired again after pending lawsuits have been resolved. If 2400 was bad, losing 30,000 will be a thousand times worse.
• The combination of random firings, federal hiring freeze, and unreasonable policies designed to create a toxic environment have created chaos at the VA.
• Veterans with cancer can’t get the treatment they need. Veterans Crisis Line operators have seen a surge in calls, and don’t have the support they need. Beds for mental health and detox have been reduced. Veterans’ healthcare appointments have been cancelled. Wait times have risen. Clinics are operating with a fraction of the staff they need.
• Meanwhile, cuts to federal agencies are harming veteran small business owners. Trump’s VA ended a program to help veterans pay their mortgages – meaning tens of thousands could lose their homes. And the GOP megabill will force steep cuts to many services Veterans rely on, from rural hospitals to food assistance to Medicaid.

This is the most anti-Veteran, anti-military administration in history. Cutting 30,000 dedicated, talented VA professionals will harm veterans – and this is just the beginning. VoteVets will be closely tracking and prepared to fight any attacks on Veterans care, including:

• Appointment delays, leading to more veterans being eligible for community care, ultimately leading to a “death spiral” that sees VA turned into a glorified health insurance company. This is an “existential threat to the VA Health System.”
• Changes to disability benefits or the rating process.
• Increased use of error-prone AI tools.
• Delayed adaptation of improved medical technologies.
• IT security vulnerabilities that are not identified or repaired in a timely manner could lead to data breaches.
• Decimation of the VA research program.