Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins says veterans' care won’t be impacted even as the department – which saw the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in generations after the passing of the PACT Act – slashes its budget and lays off thousands in the wake of the Trump administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency edicts.
Collins attended DAV’s recent Mid-Winter Conference, where he came from behind the podium, walked into the audience and told attendees that vet care and benefits would not be impacted by the Trump administration’s cuts. Collins also pledged that the VA would be more veteran-centric.
In a recent appearance on the CBS Eye on Veterans podcast, DAV Communications Chief and Air Force veteran Dan Clare said the VA has not demonstrated how it will keep that promise.
DAV also does not have “a lot of information about what’s planned,” he said.
“Now, we’re hearing about 83,000 people losing their jobs, 20,000 or so of those folks might be veterans,” said Clare. “We’re very concerned about how we’re going to be able to cut that many people and maintain care and benefits.”
VA has hired thousands of staffers since 2022 in response to the PACT Act, which brought nearly 800,000 new enrollees into its system. Collins has said cutting the VA workforce by 83,000 would bring it back down to its 2019 level.
Clare said he has not heard about specific performance problems with those who have been laid off or what their departure means for the VA system.
“We need to find out what’s planned,” Clare stressed. “If you say it's not going to affect care and benefits, it’s really hard to believe it won’t if you cut that many people, based on the PACT Act.”
Veterans' needs have not changed and remain great, Clare continued.
“The people who are sick from burn pits didn’t necessarily get better overnight and some of those folks are going to have a long road to hoe when it comes to their health,” he said.
DAV is getting calls frequently from veterans who are “scared, angry and don’t understand what’s going on and how that’s going to affect them,” added Clare.
Clare was one of the first whistleblowers on burn pits in Iraq, which eventually inspired the fight to pass the PACT Act in support of veterans who became sick, or even died, from their toxic exposures.
“When we started talking about dioxin, when Vietnam veterans heard that, they immediately thought of Agent Orange,” explained Clare. “And that’s probably what this is, our generation’s Agent Orange.”
“There’s a lot of decisions being made behind closed doors,” he continued. “We want to know what the plan is. We’re not against efficiency for the government. We’re not against even removing VA employees who may not be fit performers.”
A veteran has a unique understanding of another veteran’s needs, Clare continued. “When you lose those folks out of the VA system, you lose an institutional capacity to understand veterans.”
It is also unclear how the cuts will impact VA research, which Clare also stressed has helped veterans deal with complex issues that are service-connected, such as traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress.
In addition to being concerned about how recent budget cuts and staff reductions will impact veteran care and caregivers, Clare said DAV is also concerned about the impact on veteran-owned small businesses.
DAV is asking veteran business owners whose contracts have been recently cancelled or who have been fired from their VA jobs to reach out here. DAV is actively keeping a list of veterans negatively affected by the Trump administration’s cuts and plans on fighting for them in the weeks and months to come.
Founded in 1920 by World War I veterans, DAV is federally chartered by Congress. In addition to its legislative advocacy on behalf of veterans, DAV provides support and services to help veterans receive the benefits they have earned, host job fairs to help them gain meaningful post-service employment and more. To learn more, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
Reach Phil Briggs at Phil@connectingvets.com.