At Veterans Affairs, Plan for Sweeping Cuts Tanks Morale
Tom Brenner/For The Washington Post
A staff member speaks to Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins before Collins testifies May 6 at a Senate hearing.
Morale is plummeting inside the Department of Veterans Affairs as tens of thousands of employees prepare for deep staffing cuts, raising alarms among staffers, veterans and advocates who fear the reductions would severely damage care and benefits for millions of the nation's former service members.
VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins has signaled plans to shrink the agency's workforce by 15 percent – or about 83,000 employees. Although agency officials insist front-line health-care workers and claims processors will be spared, the vague and shifting details of the Trump administration's downsizing plan have only fueled anxiety and speculation within VA's massive workforce.
The uncertainty is already taking a toll.
Thousands of employees across VA's health and benefits systems have opted for early retirement in two waves, which would pay them through Sept. 30 to get them to leave, according to internal data reviewed by The Washington Post. Many of these employees said they are opting to leave out of fear that they would be laid off anyway.
Many Democrats have already seized on President Donald Trump's VA cuts as damaging to veterans, and some Republicans worry about the political risks of firings and other reductions at the agency.
'The veterans now check in and ask us how we are doing,' one social worker at a hospital in the Great Lakes region told The Post. 'They see the news and are very aware of the circumstances and fearful of losing VA support that they depend on.'
A contractor at the VA medical center in Palo Alto, California, described employees as 'fearful, paranoid, demoralized.'
'There's some cracks starting to show,' said an ICU doctor at a Florida facility.
This account of turmoil within Veterans Affairs is based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former employees, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. The Post also reviewed more than two dozen pages of internal agency records and communications.
In response to questions from The Post, VA spokesman Peter Kasperowicz pointed to problems in the agency that have existed for years.
'During the Biden Administration, VA failed to address nearly all of its most serious problems, such as benefits backlogs, rising health-care wait times and major issues with survivor benefits,' Kasperowicz said in a statement. 'The far-left Washington Post refused to cover these failures because it would have made the Biden Administration look bad.'
Specifically responding to the concerns employees shared about morale, Kasperowicz said The Post is to blame.
'The people you spoke with are probably being misled by The Washington Post's dishonest, far-left fearmongering,' he said.
With almost 500,000 employees, VA is the second-largest federal agency behind the Department of Defense and is in charge of providing health care to more than 9 million veterans through 170 VA medical centers and 1,193 outpatient clinics. In recent years, VA's budget and workforce have grown significantly – in part to accommodate the PACT Act, which caused disability claims and enrollment in the health-care system to surge.
Many people involved in planning the reductions have been required to sign nondisclosure agreements, leaving details about the looming cutbacks unclear. Some familiar with the plans said initial cuts will target the agency's central office, steps from the White House, where 19,000 people work administering the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration and the National Cemetery System.
But that would still leave tens of thousands of jobs at hospitals and clinics under threat of future cuts. Collins – under pressure from his workforce, Congress and veterans groups – has attempted to quell concerns by saying that he's seeking alternative cost-cutting measures in addition to layoffs and might not need to reach the initial proposal of 15 percent.
VA leaders have initially homed in on combining what they consider duplicative offices to cut jobs, according to the people familiar with the plans.
For instance, they are considering merging suicide prevention and homelessness programs with a mental health office to reduce the number of full-time employees supporting separate programs, according to an internal document obtained by The Post that shows preliminary proposals. Another proposal would combine a program for LGBTQ+ veterans with the Office of Health Equity, which identifies health-care disparities, and the Office of Whole Health, which organizes wellness programs.
Kasperowicz said 'no decisions have been made with respect to staff reductions.'
On Friday, a federal judge extended a pause on mass layoffs in 22 federal agencies, including VA, in a lawsuit against the administration's cuts filed by a federal workers' union. The pause could be short-lived, however, as the Trump administration has appealed to the Supreme Court.
Collins, a former Georgia congressman and an Iraq War veteran, has argued that VA has grown too bloated and must be streamlined. But veterans' groups and bipartisan lawmakers warn that rapid downsizing, particularly without a clear strategy, could harm veterans who depend on the agency for medical care, mental health support and disability benefits.
Veterans' groups have also warned that staff cuts would disproportionately affect veterans, who make up about a quarter of VA's workforce. Several groups, including a union organization, are organizing a rally on the National Mall on June 6 – the 81st anniversary of D-Day – in hopes of drawing thousands of protesters against the anticipated cuts.
'Iraq felt safer than being a VA employee currently does,' a veteran and VA communications worker privately told Hill staffers in a written submission shared with The Post. 'My leadership in Iraq cared about me as a human and didn't just see me as a number.'
Some Republicans expressed apprehension about the cutback numbers Collins shared when he testified in recent weeks before the Senate and House committees overseeing his agency.
'There's understandable concern among veterans and VA staff,' Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) said at a May 6 hearing with Collins. 'We need to be strategic, not simply hit a number.'
Lawmakers pressed Collins on the cuts, but he said he would not share preliminary details publicly. He suggested to senators what the agency could do without, such as the small number of staff who design medical spaces, and that he aimed to reassign doctors and nurses who do administrative work rather than care for patients.
One psychiatrist told The Post that a significant portion of their time is spent coordinating care, reviewing safety issues and advising other clinicians – work that often goes unnoticed but is crucial to quality treatment.
'Doctor administration work is important and not replaceable by AI,' the provider said in response to concerns that this administration has encouraged the use of artificial intelligence to replace work done by humans.
During the House hearing on May 15, Collins and Rep. Mark Takano (D-California) sparred after the Democrat displayed an internal spreadsheet with calculated savings from a 15 percent reduction in every VA job classification, such as a proposal to eliminate 4,000 nurses estimated to save $1 billion.
'This is a leaked predecisional document that is not helpful,' Collins said, disavowing the document. 'I have made clear, we will not be cutting front-line health care.'
The pressure on VA comes at a pivotal moment, as the department continues to implement the PACT Act, landmark legislation expanding benefits for veterans exposed to toxins such as burn pits. That law triggered a surge in disability claims – but also prompted the agency to hit new milestones in claims processing speed.
As Collins moves ahead with his reorganization, staff shortages, growing workloads and a demanding return-to-office policy are already straining the system.
Employees hired before the pandemic with telework agreements had not expected to return to the office because their work agreements came before the public health crisis. Several have since decided to leave their jobs because they said their relocations would be untenable.
At a program that helps find housing and jobs for veterans in need in Palo Alto, one staffer has decided to leave because of the return-to-office policy, while another contractor is being eliminated as part of sweeping contract cuts across the agency, one employee said.
'I keep hearing like, 'Oh, the cuts won't affect patient care,' but it absolutely will,' the employee said. 'You can't function without support staff.'
At multiple facilities, employees say tight quarters caused by the department's return-to-office policy have made it harder to provide confidential care. Mental health specialists report that they now overhear colleagues' therapy sessions with veterans, and one office has plans to purchase noise-canceling headphones to restore some privacy.
An internal VA presentation from March projected a deficit of 57,000 workstations across the Veterans Health Administration, leaving little room for providers or patients in some locations. At one hospital, a suicide prevention specialist said they had to take phone calls outside because of overloaded WiFi.
Despite these accounts, Collins has dismissed reports of overcrowded conditions and denied that employees were working out of closets – a claim that is contradicted by a photo shared with The Post of a makeshift desk set up inside a storage closet. 'We're sardines packed in a can,' the employee who took the photo said.
Another employee shared a photo of multiple workstations set up inside a hospital room.
Kasperowicz said the return-to-office policy has been rolled out with the limitations of workspaces in mind, adding that more than 60,000 VHA employees have returned to the office starting May 5, while 45,000 have not because of exemptions or extensions. He declined to respond to specific claims without locations or other identifying details, which The Post agreed to keep confidential.
'While most of VA's dedicated employees understand the importance of being on-site, a small but vocal minority are telling tall tales in a desperate attempt to avoid returning to the office at all costs,' he said.
The overcrowding has led to a lack of parking at some facilities. At one hospital, employees were told in an email Friday that veterans have missed or been tardy for medical appointments because staff members had parked in the veterans-only parking lots.
'Despite these challenges, staff are expected to report to work on time and leave veterans parking for those who are receiving care and services,' the hospital director told employees.
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