WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration aims to cut more than 70,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which oversees veterans’ health care and other benefits, Secretary Doug Collins said Wednesday (Mar 5).
The move to downsize the VA brings Trump’s unprecedented cost-cutting efforts, led by billionaire adviser Elon Musk, into another sensitive area, with Democrats quick to voice their displeasure with the plan.
“For many years, veterans have been asking for a more efficient, accountable and transparent VA. This administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want,” Collins said in a video posted on X.
“Our goal is to reduce VA employment levels (to) 2019 end-strength numbers – roughly 398,000 employees – from our current level of approximately 470,000 employees,” he said, giving a lower current number of staff than a department statement from last month, which put the total at more than 479,000.
“We’re going to accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries,” Collins added.
AFP had earlier obtained a VA memo saying the department would work in concert with Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “identify and eliminate waste, reduce management and bureaucracy, reduce footprint, and increase workforce efficiency,” with an initial aim of returning to 2019 staffing levels.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, slammed the plan, saying: “These soon-to-be fired workers are patriotic Americans who chose to work at the VA because they genuinely care for the welfare of veterans and their families.”
