Veterans Affairs department scales back cuts, makes revisions strategic

After an initial target around 80,000, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a sizable revision in workforce reduction amid leftist challenges.

(Video Credit: Fox Business Network)

At every turn, efforts to streamline the federal government and eliminate wasteful spending have been met with obstruction and lawfare from leftists. Amid those setbacks, the VA reported Monday that the aim of laying off about 80,000 employees would now impact less than 30,000 by the end of the fiscal year.

“The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced it’s on pace to reduce total VA staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025, eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force,” the department detailed in a press release.

Having pared down the workforce by 17,000 between the beginning of 2025 and June 1, the VA expected an attrition of some 12,000 employees by the end of September via voluntary early retirement or deferred resignation and indicated, “All VA mission-critical positions are exempt from the DRP (Deferred Resignation Program) and VERA (Vet Equitable Resource Allocation), and more than 350,000 positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.”

Joining Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” Tuesday, VA Secretary Doug Collins told fill-in host Cheryl Casone, “We did a very thoughtful, very careful study of looking at our force structure … and how we were aligned to take care of veterans.”

“The original 15% was a goal. We were gonna make sure that we took care of veterans, we took care of disability claims and we made sure that this was a seamless process. And in the process, we also protected 350,000 positions to make sure that none of those services were cut,” he went on. “And in the end, what we’ve done is we’ve been able to use the attrition, use the deferred retirement plan to actually get us to our goal of making sure that we’re more aligned with what we need to be doing. And that is taking care of veterans from day one.”

The secretary had further detailed in the press release, “Since March, we’ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans,” which included eliminating remote work for over 60,000 employees, bringing them back to the office “where we can work better as a team to serve Veterans.”

“As a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction — both in terms of staff levels and customer service,” added Collins. “A department-wide RIF is off the table, but that doesn’t mean we’re done improving VA. Our review has resulted in a host of new ideas for better serving Veterans that we will continue to pursue.”

Despite the change in reductions as President Donald Trumps efforts to exert executive authority over the executive branch made its way through the courts, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs ranking member California Rep. Mark Takano (D) continued lamenting the attrition and reacted to the announcement, “The Secretary may debate the meaning of ‘large-scale’, but don’t be mistaken, a reduction of this size would be catastrophic to an already understaffed agency.”

“The Secretary knows that VA’s workforce was expanded to meet the needs of veterans covered by the largest healthcare and benefit expansion in VA history, the PACT Act. He knows this, and he remains steadfast in taking steps that will dismantle its successes,” added the congressman while contending the VA had “intentionally ignored oversight and accountability of its decisions,” and “should be met with deep skepticism as it fails to account for what happens after September 30.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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