Around 70,000 workers for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs are planned to be fired by Tuesday, Sept. 30, according to a memo by V.A. chief of staff Christopher D. Syrek. Photo by Benjamin Faust, Unsplash.

News Release

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veteran’s Affairs announced Wednesday, March 5, to cut around 80,000 jobs, over 15% of its workforce.

These cuts are designed to reduce the workforce to just under 400,000 employees, its 2019 size. Douglas A. Collins, Veterans Affairs secretary, said in a video posted to social media that benefits or care for veterans and beneficiaries would not be reduced by cuts.

The department, which provides millions of veterans and their families’ medical care, is one of many targets in Trump’s efforts to reduce the 2.3-million employee federal workforce.

“President Trump refuses to accept the VA bureaucracy and bloat that has hindered Veterans’ ability to receive timely and quality care,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement. “By making the VA workforce more efficient, President Trump and Secretary Collins will ensure greater efficiency and transparency for our nation’s heroes while preserving the benefits they earned.”

One of the country’s largest employers of federal workers, the V.A. mostly employs through its nationwide network of hospitals, according to the nonprofit Pew Research Center. There are almost three dozen V.A. clinics, medical centers and vet centers throughout Indiana.

Federal employee and veteran groups quickly panned the planned downsizing, protesting that department services for veterans and their families will be hindered.

President of the American Federation of Government Employees Everett Kelley said in a statement, “The VA has been severely understaffed for many years, resulting in longer wait times for veterans in need.”  He continued, “The DOGE plunder of career VA employees, adding to the illegal mass firings of thousands of probationary employees, can only make matters worse.”

Kelley, who represents the country’s largest union for federal workers including many VA employees, also said the cuts would remove the department’s ability to fulfill the Biden-signed 2022 Pact Act, a promise to expand healthcare for veterans harmed by exposure to toxic materials.

Cuts of nonessential workers could cause longer waits for medical appointments and slower processing of benefits, especially compensation for disabilities, warned liberal veterans’ group VoteVets.

In a statement, the group said, “Donald Trump is eliminating the very people who best understand the sacrifices and needs of those of us who have served our nation — their fellow veterans.”