The Trump Administration is planning for a sweeping reorganization of the Department of Veterans Affairs this year that includes cutting more than 80,000 jobs, according to an internal memo first reported by the news outlet Government Executive.
In the memo, VA Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek said that the organization would start a department-wide review in partnership with Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Syrek said that the VA would “move aggressively” to eliminate waste, reduce bureaucracy and scale back the department’s size. He said the goal would be to return the department to staffing levels from the end of 2019, when it had just under 400,000 employees. It reportedly employed more than 482,000 workers as of late last year, with more than 25% of the workforce made up of veterans.
The cuts would undo a staffing expansion under the Biden administration, including what GovExec’s Eric Katz reports was a record-setting fiscal 2023, when the Veterans Health Administration, the part of the VA that runs the healthcare system for vets, hired 61,000 new workers. “Both VHA and the Veterans Benefits Administration has been staffing up to accommodate the flood of veterans newly eligible for care and benefits under the PACT Act, though hiring slowed in fiscal 2024,” Katz notes.
The Associated Press reports that the VA reached new highs for service last year, with enrollment topping 9 million veterans and more than 127.5 million appointments for care.
The VA memo said that the department would publish its reorganization plan in June and would then enact a department-wide reduction in force before the end of the fiscal year.
Doug Collins, the secretary of Veterans Affairs, said in a video statement Wednesday that the review would be thorough and thoughtful and would make the department work better without making cuts to care or benefits. “The days of kicking the can down the road and measuring VA’s progress by how much money it spends and how many people it employs rather than how many veterans it helps are over,” he said.
The Trump administration has already cut thousands of jobs at the VA, drawing some political pushback. Sizable additional cuts at the VA are likely to face a significant backlash. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said the plan would starve the VA to justify privatizing the department.
“Their plan prioritizes private sector profits over veterans’ care, balancing the budget on the backs of those who served,” he said in a statement. “It’s a shameful betrayal, and veterans will pay the price for their unforgivable corruption, incompetence, and immorality.”
Republican Rep. Mike Bost, the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said he had been in touch with VA Secretary Doug Collins after the memo came out. “I have questions about the impact these reductions and discussions could have on the delivery of services, especially following the implementation of the PACT Act,” he said. “And from my position as Chairman, I will continue to ask questions and keep a close eye on how, or if, this plan evolves.”
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to the AP that the president “refuses to accept the VA bureaucracy and bloat that has hindered veterans’ ability to receive timely and quality care. 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.”