Trump administration to cut 80,000 employees from Veterans Affairs

[BirdinHand]

ALSO a fact of life is just how deep we are in the doo doo of debt. It's a SERIOUS problem and one that isn't going to go away without at least some pain involved. We owe $36,000,000,000,000 - and growing. That's $105,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country - TRIPLE that for every taxpayer. Our current debt to GDP ratio is 133%! We're spending 2 trillion dollars more than we're taking in. 2 trillion!

And that doesn't even include personal debt, which is roughly $23,000 per individual.

Look, I get there's pain, but holy cow - if we don't address this - and toot sweet, you don't even know the level of pain we'll experience then

But this administration is going to GROW the debt and deficit with $4T or so in new tax cuts.

Largely going to the wealthiest and corporations.

We are removing people that provide service to Veterans - and going to give tax cuts to the rich and corporations.

No more. No less.

This Administration has also fired how many veterans? And said “eh…oh well” and how maybe they just weren’t cut out for the job.


I’m not a veteran. But I care for a Vietnam veteran who suffers from the impacts of Agent Orange daily. I’m furious that this administration led by a draft dodging felon has the audacity to go anywhere near the VA.

Not surprised though. The man used Arlington as a photo prop.

 

[HumblePi]

FWIW - The Department of Veterans Affairs currently employs approximately 482,000 staff members, with around 459,000 of those being full-time workers. This number includes a significant portion of veterans themselves, making up more than one-in-four of the workforce.

80,000 out of 482,000 is a 17% reduction in force. (Hardly an amount that will result in the fear-mongering by the OP).

80,000 is 80,000 too many veterans whose lives, and the lives of their families, will be negatively impacted. Is there any 'last straw' for Trump supporters? I don't think there is. Alina Habba said that veterans fired by DOGE are perhaps 'not fit to have a job at this moment'. The VA lost 1,400 people on the first day of cuts, 1,000 a week later, and now they're talking about 80,000 more. Services for veterans are going to be cut, and they, and their families, will lose some of their health care benefits. They will have to wait longer for their medications. Firing huge swaths of government workers at the FDA, FBI, CIA, EPA, withdrawing support for Ukraine, using our national parks resources to replace the logging the US will lose from Canada to the benefit of private US lumber companies, threatening to reduce benefits for people on Medicaid, and reducing the IRS and Social Security workforces, should all be the 'last straw' for anyone with a conscience. But firing veterans and putting their health in danger should be way outside the boundaries of the 'last straw'

 

[HumblePi]

Trump will keep lowering their staffing until the only solution is for MAGATS in Congress to privatize the entirety of the VA.

I think that is covered somewhere in P25.

The plan is to privatize AI development to men like Bezos and Zuckerberg. The plan is to privatize the education of all of our children through private corporations. The plan is to privatize logging in the US in our national parks to replace the lumber we will not be getting from Canada. Name any US Government agency, the plan is to privatize the government entirely and allow it to be run by the top 1% with their own self-interests at heart, not the interests of 340 million Americans.

 

[Peter]

Who knew Americans actually hated veterans so much?
I always thought you guys liked them but I'm obviously wrong, silly me.

 

[LouC]

The plan is to privatize AI development to men like Bezos and Zuckerberg. The plan is to privatize the education of all of our children through private corporations. The plan is to privatize logging in the US in our national parks to replace the lumber we will not be getting from Canada. Name any US Government agency, the plan is to privatize the government entirely and allow it to be run by the top 1% with their own self-interests at heart, not the interests of 340 million Americans.

Sounds like out of the pages of P25?!

 

[HumblePi]

Watching and hearing this veteran just crushes my heart. I feel so horrible for these vets. What the hell are we doing!!??

 

[Risky Thicket]

Active duty and veterans serve(d) to protect some of the very rights that Donald J Trump and Musk are taking away.

MAGA, tell veterans you support privatizing the VA while you also support privatizing Social Security, while you support or don't oppose a recession, while you support selective violations of the 1st Amendment, while you support destroying the Department of Education, while you support tariffs, while Trump after decades still does not have a healthcare plan, etc. And then tell us Trump and Musk and MAGA love veterans.

NONE of the above is good news to veterans and disabled veterans.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

Crooked donnie trump is a guy I want working on veterans affairs.

 

[Oozlefinch]

The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top-level officials at the agency that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000.

Holy cow, they added over 80,000 jobs since 2019? Sure as hell can't tell from my end, because the VA is just as bad in 2025 as it was in 2018.

 

[Risky Thicket]

Holy cow, they added over 80,000 jobs since 2019? Sure as hell can't tell from my end, because the VA is just as bad in 2025 as it was in 2018.

Same same here. Of all the vets I know who use VA healthcare I cannot recall even once when a veteran has said, "The VA needs to cut staff so that the access and service will improve."

Many improvements are needed. But cutting staff is not the answer.

 

[Oozlefinch]

Many improvements are needed. But cutting staff is not the answer.

And when they add almost 25% more jobs and it does not improve, then manpower is most likely not the problem. Or if it is, they are not hiring in the right places.

 

[Risky Thicket]

And when they add almost 25% more jobs and it does not improve, then manpower is most likely not the problem. Or if it is, they are not hiring

Yep, I agree. It’s difficult to say where I’d start with changes. I do not want to privatize the VA. One of the huge benefits of going to the VA is the institutional knowledge gained from system wide national care of a unique population. That’s critical.

At the same time the VA desperately needs to revamp its system of approval for local rural doctors, etc. As it is now fine doctors who serve their local communities would like to serve vets however - as we all know - the paperwork and all that goes with it makes it cost prohibitive for doctors. Catch-22.

That’s just a tiny piece of what needs to be done IMHO.

 

[Oozlefinch]

Yep, I agree. It’s difficult to say where I’d start with changes.

I would start with cutting the bureaucracy. I found it extremely irritated when last year I requested an appointment, and was given one three months later.

OK, not a big deal as it was not an emergency. But the only appointment they could give me was in another three months.

It took over 6 months to actually see my provider. That is absolutely insane and unreasonable. But nothing new, I had been dealing with that kind of care for over three decades now. That is why when so many were pushing for "government healthcare", I was pushing against it. And I always said the same thing, I am under "Government health care" with the VA, and I would not wish that on anybody.

And if they could somehow fix the great many issues with the VA, I might start to warm to the idea. And here we are almost two decades later and the VA is still a fuster cluck. Administrations keep promising to fix it, yet I have never seen any improvement in it myself.

The problem is not manpower, it is institutional.

 

[What if...?]

With all due respect... do you honestly believe that?

trumps entire motivation is to finally be accepted by the billionaire class as one of them. They have never had any use for his dumb ass.

But they will gladly dangle that acceptance before him to get their hands on more money.

And he will give it to them.