A Reckoning at VA: Do Job Cuts Threaten Progress or Restore Balance?
A Subtle Shift, A Potential Shock
The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced plans to reduce its workforce by more than 80,000 positions — a nearly 17% cut. On paper, the administration describes it as a measured return to pre-pandemic staffing. In reality, it may be the most consequential personnel decision in VA history.
The question we should all be asking: Will this move restore balance — or will it quietly undo hard-won gains in access and care?
What’s Behind the Cuts
The proposal, included in the Trump administration’s recent budget blueprint, seeks to roll back hiring surges that occurred during the COVID emergency and PACT Act expansion. Supporters argue the cuts are fiscally prudent and overdue. In some cases, they’re right.
Many temporary hires were intended for a moment of crisis. Not all functions expanded during COVID need to remain. Where redundancies exist—especially within VA’s central bureaucracy — recalibration is wise.
But beneath the surface, the scope and timing of this reduction raise legitimate questions.
A System Under Strain
The VA isn’t facing less pressure — it’s facing more.
Thanks to the PACT Act, millions of new claims have entered the system. Exposure-related evaluations, treatment requests, and complex appeals are now the norm, not the exception. That reality puts unique pressure on claims processors, frontline medical staff, and outreach teams.
According to reporting from Military Times, roles likely to be affected include:
- Claims processors for disability and pension benefits
- Medical assistants and clinic coordinators
- Mental health and PTSD outreach staff
- Case managers tied to PACT Act implementation
- Telehealth and IT support teams
Some of these positions are essential. Others may be phased out with minimal disruption. But a one-size-fits-all approach could produce consequences that neither veterans nor policymakers intended.
We Support Reform—Not Retraction
This platform has long supported serious reform at the VA, especially when it means holding the agency accountable, rooting out waste, or breaking up stagnant structures. We’ve also supported the efforts of DOGE (VA’s Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Operations and Management) to modernize VA’s clinical care systems.
But not all “cuts” are created equal. And not every staff reduction is a sign of progress.
Veterans, particularly those navigating complex benefits, still depend on timely claims processing, accessible appointments, and responsive case management. If those elements weaken, it won’t be “efficiency.” It’ll be erosion — quiet, bureaucratic, and deeply felt.
The Risk of Losing Ground
If the cuts proceed without clear metrics and transparent oversight, here’s what we may see:
- Longer wait times for claims decisions and appeals
- Reduced access to medical appointments in underserved regions
- Thinner outreach to vulnerable veterans, including those with PTSD or housing insecurity
- Strained staff, leading to burnout and rushed casework
Veterans don’t just want a bigger VA — they want a better one. That means smart investment, not blanket downsizing.
A Call for Measured Leadership
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have weighed in.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ranking Member on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, called the proposal “a mistake in the making.” Others in Congress are calling for a scalpel — not an axe. And while some conservative lawmakers support returning to pre-pandemic levels, many are urging caution and transparency in execution.
As always, public input will shape the outcome.
What You Can Do
Contact Your Elected Officials
Tell them you support strategic reforms, not indiscriminate cuts. Ask for accountability and clarity in what roles are being cut — and why. Find your rep
Share Your VA Story
Have you faced recent delays or reduced access? Tell us at DisabledVeterans.org/contact so we can bring attention where it’s needed.
Support Smart Advocacy
Not every voice speaks for veterans equally. We support advocacy rooted in data, integrity, and accountability — not just outrage. Stay engaged with updates from both traditional and reform-minded veteran organizations.
Final Thought: A Crossroads, Not A Crisis
This isn’t a moment for panic — but it is a moment for vigilance.
Pruning a bureaucracy is not, in itself, a betrayal. But when pruning becomes gutting, the cost is paid not in dollars, but in dignity and delay.
Veterans didn’t serve this country to wait in longer lines. They deserve a system that works — and they deserve a voice when change is coming.
We’ll keep watching. And we’ll keep reporting.
“The VA?” ughhh 🙄
it is very terrible that the American non veterans as well a number of actual Veterans still believe the VA is great talk about people being brain washed.
They’ve needed to tell people during their little orientation there that they aren’t guaranteed care for a number of mental and physical conditions… service connected or not. They’ve needed to do that for 20 years. They should be sued for misrepresentation or something similar so they have to be honest about what they do and don’t provide at any given time…even if it changes. Also need to pass a law that they must give you a detailed denial of care letter so they can’t hide what they’ve done. As it is they have the ability to not only deny care but hide what they’ve done. Our government is just as shady as the Chinese or Russian government when it comes to cover-up.
If you present yourself as a liability to them, they’re gonna start with the “personality disorder” bullshit and start cataloging any unpleasant events that happen and write down every word that comes out of your mouth so they can interpret it to their advantage. So what ends up happening is you’re going in there to pet the pit bull and nothing more. They create a climate of fear and mistrust that should be considered a civil or human rights violation.
The privatization would mean you could sue or go somewhere else if denial of care or abuses were occuring. Trump will not do this because he sees value in the government having the power to turn on and off the spigot that is funding thus healthcare. Him and his rich cronies pay for 400K + people to provide rudimentary healthcare. Why would he do anything but make cuts and otherwise keep the phoney baloney system as it is?
Need surgery for service connected condition? They run you around in circles and do the least they can do to make it look like they’re doing something and keep you scheduling appointments. You’ll never get a denial of care letter because that would leave a paper trail and evidence of the malpractice and fraud. Also costs millions to sue and the courts are pro fraudulent healthcare system. So fraudulent healthcare system and fraudulent government. Laws mean nothing yet they keep handing them hundreds of billions of dollars for what is essentially shots and pills.
Where is Timothy McVeigh when you need him. It was bad that people died in that attack… otherwise I say he did a good thing. Since the courts won’t perform their function in our democracy, the infrastructure must be hit hard. That’s all they understand is destruction. They let us know that year after year.
Do not disagree but be careful the enemy within! As for him videos have proven that he could never have done that which he was accused of even show FBI carrying unexploded devices out from under the parking garage, This is not the issue in your statement. The United States is NOT a democracy it should NEVER be one, we are a REPUBLIC
It’s a democratic republic… unlike an authoritarian system..we vote for our leaders. That’s why they call it a democracy along with it being a Republic. It could also be called a constitutional democratic Republic. Everyone always breaking balls about that because their knowledge of political philosophy and government is limited. Pat yourself on the back and go read political science texts on archive.org
Nothing will sort it out other than the federal courts, penalizing the incompetent and malfeasant entities though remedies for the civil and Constitutional rights violations, deaths, suffering, malfeasance, and psychological abuse. Many of those people working there are frauds and mentally ill themselves. Their jobs protected, they feel they have unlimited legal resources and immunity, that’s why it has to go. Trump will not privatize it and do insurance cards. That’s the only way to fix the situation because it’s a nightmare and dangerous wreck.
Here is one they transferred but let stay for over a decade after he leveled pseudo psychology on a veteran.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhett-puder-09232390
Also belief in supernatural fiction as fact and had mental health problems himself. Took pills for head problems.
Oh those poor fucks in there lemme tell you we feel terrible for them. A good half of them over decades have tried through every artifice known to mankind, to set veterans up for failure, character assassination, denial of care, accusations of just going there for money as if that’s not why they are there. And many of the people doing those things are veterans so eventually I got to the point where I would avoid any veteran working there.
Just imagine if the trillion plus dollars they spent over the last 5 years on VHA went towards healthcare for veterans instead. The federal government should pay those people to do something else… because healthcare ain’t their forte. It’s a failed healthcare model and it must go. Trump isn’t doing enough. It’s a myth that localities can’t handle the healthcare demand, and people shouldn’t be living in areas that don’t have healthcare providers in them.
with the VA any reductions cuts etc would be a improvement because the veterans currently do not get decent care from the VA so who cares
They got over a trillion dollars 2019 onward so… probably wouldn’t matter if every penny ever minted passed through their hands… denial of care culture remains in the worst healthcare system in the democratic world.