The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) has dismissed more than 1,000 new employees as part of a wave of federal government layoffs that began this week, sparking concerns the firings could impact benefits for former service members.
Those dismissed include non-”mission critical” probationary employees who have all served less than two years, according to a VA statement released late Thursday.
The VA says the layoffs will save the agency more than $98 million per year, with resources redirected back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.
“There are currently more than 43,000 probationary employees across the department, the vast majority of whom are exempt from today’s personnel actions because they serve in mission-critical positions – primarily those supporting benefits and services for VA beneficiaries – or are covered under a collective bargaining agreement,” the VA statement noted.
But some lawmakers have warned that the layoffs — part of President Trump and his administration’s effort to cut the 2.4 million civil servant workforce — have created chaos within the VA and will be devastating to the 9 million veterans the agency provides lifelong care and benefits for.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash), said the layoffs have affected VA researchers working on mental health, cancer treatments, alcohol and opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.
In a statement on Thursday, Murray said that she heard from VA researchers in her state “who are right now being told to immediately stop their research and pack their bags – not because their work isn’t desperately needed, but because Trump and Elon [Musk] have decided to fire these researchers on a whim.”
And Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), said the “indiscriminate” firings, which included veterans, is a “direct assault on veterans and their families.”
“Firing 1,000 VA staff will clearly do nothing to better help serve our veterans, instead instilling chaos and uncertainty in a system that is already short staffed and complicated to navigate,” Schultz said in a statement Friday.
For at least five years, VA hospitals have struggled with major staffing shortages, especially among physicians, nurses and psychologists, according to an August report from the VA’s inspector general.
In a statement, VA Secretary Doug Collins said the layoffs were “a tough decision,” but said it was “the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve.”
He also insisted that the dismissals will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. But some veterans groups and lawmakers worry that the round of firings will ultimately harm veterans.
That was the message from Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who joined veterans, labor unions representing VA employees, and veterans’ advocates outside the VA headquarters Thursday to speak out against what they called an assault from Trump and Musk, who helms a taskforce seeking to cut government spending, on the VA workforce.
Trump “does not believe in service, does not believe in sacrifice,” Van Hollen said. “This is the person who has turned the keys to federal agencies, including the Department of Veteran Affairs, over to Elon Musk. This has nothing to do with efficiency.”
