The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to cut 80,000 jobs as part of an “aggressive” reorganization of the agency this summer, according to The Associated Press, which cited an internal memo it obtained.
The memo, sent by VA chief of staff Christopher Syrek, says the agency-wide reorganization will take place this August and instructs top-level officials to prepare to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.”
Syrek also said in the memo that agency officials should work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals, the AP reported.
Syrek said the agency plans to cut enough employs to return to the 2019 levels of staffing, which was just under 400,000 positions. Doing so would require cutting tens of thousands of jobs at the VA that were created under the Biden administration, including by the 2022 PACT Act, which expanded coverage to veterans affected by burn pits.
The Hill has reached out to the VA for comment.
The department has already undergone waves of workforce cuts under President Trump, including 1,400 employees axed last Monday and 1,000 cut earlier in February.
VA Secretary Doug Collins also announced the cancelation of up to 875 contracts last Tuesday, but the department paused that effort the following day amid outrage from Democratic lawmakers and veterans’ groups.
Collins defended the workforce cuts last week, saying the recent wave would save the VA more than $83 million per year — to be redirected back toward health care, benefits and services for veterans.
“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,” Collins said in a statement at the time. “These moves will not hurt VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. In fact, Veterans are going to notice a change for the better.”
Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a recent CNN interview that he couldn’t guarantee that health benefits and care would not be cut but defended the restructuring of the agency as essential for making sure it works efficiently for the American people.
“Look, I care for our veterans. One out of 10 constituents of mine are veterans. It’s a real issue in eastern North Carolina,” Murphy said. “But the real issue is also when somebody can’t get benefits and they’ve put off their doctor’s appointments for eight or 10 months when they can’t get care. That is where an agency has failed.”
“We’re trying to get an agency that actually works for the people that it’s supposed to be taken care of,” he added.
The Associated Press contributed.
