As President Donald Trump and his consigliere Elon Musk aim to winnow the federal workforce through highly targeted cuts (firing inspectors general, FBI agents and career DOJ attorneys) and wholesale layoffs (the “buyout” offers for federal employees, the shuttering of USAID, et al) the DOGE ax has fallen on 1,000 VA employees.
The cuts, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) portrays them, come “at a time when the VA is already understaffed.” Sanders says the cuts will “hurt veterans” who “deserve the best health care available.”
Equating the job cuts with diminished care for veterans, the Senator demands that the “VA must rescind this order.”
Veterans deserve the best health care available. At a time when the VA is already understaffed, these layoffs will hurt veterans. Unacceptable.
Trump must not cut VA health care so that he can give tax breaks to Musk and other billionaires.
The VA must rescind this order. pic.twitter.com/euAqDxknCv
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 18, 2025
[Sanders places all the cuts DOGE is carrying out through the federal government into a bucket, the contents of which he says the Trump administration is going to pour into the already fat bank accounts of the American oligarchy through tax cuts, lighter regulation, favorable legislation and diminished financial policing at the IRS and DOJ.]
VA Secretary Doug Collins said the action will save the agency $98 million, which puts the cost of each dismissed worker at about $100,000. The Idaho Capital Sun reports Collins takes a view contrary to that of Sanders, asserting that the VA is “focused on saving money so it can be better spent on Veteran care.”
[For 2024, Congress appropriated $135.3 billion in non-defense discretionary funding and $161.7 billion in mandatory funding for the VA.]
JX Write, an X account featuring either a person or a bot expressing boilerplate DOGE-friendly feedback on X, contended that Musk’s team is cutting only superfluous and ineffective roles at the VA.
I don’t think anyone wants to hurt health care for Veterans. Accountability is key to the Department of Government Efficiency. It ensures DOGE’s efforts to cut waste, slash red tape, and streamline agencies actually deliver for taxpayers. No accountability, no real change—just…
— JX Write (@JXWrite) February 18, 2025
[NOTE: “We thank these employees for their service to VA. This was a tough decision,” Collins said in a statement, implying that the employees being cut did offer value to the organization.]
Dissatisfaction with the VA as it currently operates makes it an easy target for DOGE, even as Sanders and others dissent, because many of those meant to depend on the VA’s services have complained about inefficiency for decades.
As the responder below writes “The VA needs to be revamped into a more efficient and service-oriented model.”
I dare you to find any percentage of vets that are happy with the service they receive at the VA.
I know many who avoid it at all costs due to the poor service and extraordinary long wait periods.
The VA needs to be revamped into a more efficient and service-oriented model.…
— Ben Taylor (@RunningBearTx) February 18, 2025