Trump -Administration plans to cut 80,000 employees from VA

Washington (AP) – Department of Veterans Affairs is planning a reorganization that includes cutting over 80,000 jobs from the scattered agency that supplies health care and other services to millions of veterans, According to an internal memo obtained Wednesday by Associated Press.

VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told the top-level officials on Tuesday that it had a goal to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staff of just under 400,000. It would require to end tens of thousands of employees after the VA was expanded during the bite administration, as well as to cover veterans affected by burns under the PACT Act 2022.

The memo Instructs the top -level staff to prepare for an agency area reorganization in August to “change the size and tailor the workforce to the mission and the revised structure.” It also calls on the agency’s officials to work with the White Huss Department of Government Efficiency to “move out aggressively while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump Administration’s goal. The government’s director first reported the internal memo.

“Things have to change,” said the veteran’s secretary Doug Collins in a video that was broadcast on social media on Wednesday afternoon, adding that the redundancies would not mean cuts to the veterans’ health care or benefits.

“This administration will finally give the veterans what they want,” Collins said. “President Trump has a mandate for a generational change in Washington, and that’s exactly what we have to deliver at VA.”

Veterans have already been speaks against The cuts on VA, which had so far included a few thousand employees and hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of VA’s workforce consists of veterans.

The plans that were underway on VA showed how Trump -Administration’s Doge -Initiative, led by the billionaire Elon MuskDoes not hold back on a complete effort to cut down federal agencies, even for those who have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support.

The White House spokesman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the president “refuses to accept the VA bureaucracy and bloating that has prevented the veterans’ ability to receive timely and quality care.” She added that the changes would “ensure greater efficiency and transparency” on VA.

Last year, the VA experienced its highest level of service ever, reached over 9 million registrations and delivered more than 127.5 million health agreements, according to the agency’s figures.

However, Michael Missal, who was VAS’s general inspector for nine years until he was fired last month as part of Trumps sweeping dismissal Of independent supervisors in government agencies, AP told that VA is already suffering from a lack of “expertise” as top -level officials are either leaving or mixing around under the president’s plans.

“What will happen is that VA will not work so well for veterans and veterans will be injured,” said Missal, who was a guest of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Con. On Trump’s Tuesday Address to Congress.

Instead of leaning on the missions of the Inspectors’ General, whose job is to seek waste and fraud in government agencies, Trump has moved sharply against them and whistles statutes that require a 30-day message and specific reasons for their redundancies. Missal is challenges his dismissal In court, along with seven other inspectors, inspectors in general fired.

Missal described VA as “a truly complicated, difficult to control organization”, similar to size as the largest companies in America. He defended his work on the agency as obliged to make it more effective and responsive to veterans. In Missal’s count, the VA Inspector General’s supervision resulted in $ 45 billion stored on the agency during his tenure.

But he added that Trump’s actions against the inspectors’ general make it more difficult for the officials who are still in these offices to do their jobs.

In Congress, Democrats have decorated the cuts at VA and other agencies, while Republicans have so far seen with caution Trump administration’s changes.

Rep. Mike Bost, Republican President of House Veteran’s Affairs Committee, said in a statement that he would “continue to ask questions and keep an eye on how, or if this plan develops.”

“I have questions about the influence these reductions and discussions could have in the provision of services, especially after the implementation of the PACT law,” Bost added.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Republican President of the Senate Budget Committee, was unhappy that VA had not given lawmakers an advance message about the changes and said it was “political malpractice not to consult the congress.”

“Maybe you have a good reason to do it,” he said. “But we don’t have to read memos in the paper about 20% cut on VA.”

The changes that are underway on VA are already raising concerns among veteran groups when facing layoffs and confusion about whether their services will be affected.

Brent Reiffer, a marine veteran who receives medical treatment through the VA and advocates for the wounded warrior project, said that among his society “confusion leading to frustration” is to go in.

“If you sometimes draw it to a conclusion, it’s the veteran just throwing your hands up and the kind does not go to VA,” Reiffer said. “What you end up with are a lot of veterans who don’t get the care they deserve.”

Blumenthal, the supreme Democrat of the Senate Committee, who oversees Veteran’s Affairs, said in a statement that the Trump administration “has launched an entire assault” against progress as VA has made to expand its services when the number of covered veterans grows and includes those affected by toxic burns.

“Their plan prioritizes the profits in the private sector rather than veterans’ care and balances the budget on their backs on those who earned. It’s a shameful betrayal and veterans pay the price for their unforgivable corruption, incompetence and immoral, ”Blumenthal said in a statement.

Democratic leaders in the house also illuminated the effect of Trump’s cuts on veterans on Wednesday.

Rep. Katherine Clark, No. 2 ranked in Democratic Leadership, said at a news conference, “Democrats are here to say that we will not allow our veterans to be defined as governmental waste.”

__

Associated Press Authores Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.