SALT LAKE CITY ā The Department of Veteran Affairs is the latest target for federal job cuts, with nearly 80,000 positions slated for elimination. This move, announced through a memo from the Department of Government Efficiency, aims to reduce the VA’s workforce to pre-2020 levels.
The VA manages a $350 billion-plus budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals, according to the Associated Press. The VA, the second-largest federal department after the Department of Defense, currently employs about 470,000 people. The planned cuts would bring the number of employees back to just under 400,000 ā a staffing level last seen in 2019.
Former executive director of Utah’s Department of Veteran Affairs Terry Schow weighed in on the cuts after returning from Washington D.C. Schow, who serves on the national executive committee for the American Legion, emphasized that front-line workers such as doctors, nurses, social workers and crisis line staff will not be affected.
“If you’re a doctor, if you’re a nurse, if you’re a social worker or a crisis line worker, those people are not going to be affected by this,” Schow assured.
However, Schow warned that probationary workers ā many of whom were hired during the Biden Administration ā could be at risk. These employees, often still in their trial period, may bear the brunt of the cuts.
Small protests have already begun to sprout up across the country, with demonstrators expressing concern over the impact these job reductions might have on veterans’ services.
Schow voiced his own apprehensions, stressing the importance of protecting veterans’ interests during this process.
“I want to make sure that, one, veterans aren’t harmed. No. 2, if they are doing reductions, that they do actually factor in veteran preference,” he said.
Despite the looming cuts, Schow remains cautiously optimistic, trusting the administration’s commitment to supporting veterans.
“I am not overly concerned because, at the end of the day, the president has said that they want to look after their veterans,” he added.
Looking ahead, Schow predicted that the VA won’t be the last department to experience job cuts, hinting that the Department of Defense might be next in line for similar reductions.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that the Department of Veterans Affairs has a budget of $3.5 billion. That has been updated to say it has a budget of more than $350 billion.