The Department of Veterans Affairs is set to cut another 1,400 workers as part of a cost-cutting measure that will save over $83 million, Fox News reported. This comes after the VA slashes diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
The cut employees were in "non-mission critical positions" that wouldn't impact care. "Those dismissed today are bargaining-unit probationary employees who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment," a news release noted Monday.
The cost savings will allow the agency to "redirect all of those resources back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries." The measure comes with the "additional safeguard" of allowing the "first Senior Executive Service (SES) or SES-equivalent leader in a dismissed employee’s chain of command can request that the employee be exempted from removal."
The move adds to 1,000 cuts that were announced earlier this month. "These and other recent personnel decisions are extraordinarily difficult, but VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors as possible," VA Secretary Doug Collins said.
Democrats are apoplectic about these cuts despite the obvious necessity of them. The VA has assured the public that benefits will not be impacted, but that didn't stop Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) from raging on X.
"Donald Trump's VA fired an additional 1,400 workers—on top of the over 1,000 fired earlier this month. There are no 'non-critical' VA positions when it comes to ensuring Veterans receive the care they've earned," Duckworth claimed in a tweet Tuesday.
"Another betrayal. Another middle-finger. Another promise broken," Duckworth added.
Donald Trump's VA fired an additional 1,400 workers—on top of the over 1,000 fired earlier this month.
There are no "non-critical" VA positions when it comes to ensuring Veterans receive the care they've earned.
Another betrayal.
Another middle-finger.
Another promise broken.— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) February 25, 2025
Meanwhile, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal slammed Collins for the decision. "Doug Collins continues to put the interests of veterans last with additional indiscriminate firings of VA employees," the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement.
These cuts come as part of Trump's larger agenda to streamline the government and get rid of the leftist policies that hinder efficiency. With that in mind, Trump issued an executive order outlawing DEI in the federal government as one of his first orders of business.
While it has met with some snags in the courts, it's already working as intended. The VA cut at least 60 employees after dispensing with its diversity, equity, and inclusion department, Military Times reported.
On Jan. 22, then-acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter announced that he would be closing the DEI offices to comply with Trump's order. Hunter noted that the "programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination."
Although it didn't impact many employees, it marked a quick compliance with Trump's agenda. That has predictably enraged the left, but it seems to have set the agency's efficiency efforts in motion.
Trump is slashing government waste and abuse in the hopes that the existing entities will become more efficient. There's no reason to object to any of this except that Democrats exist to expand government and spend taxpayer dollars.
