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August 1 %u2022 2025 www.VeteransReporterNews.com VETERANS Reporter News 5Plans for Mass VA Firings Scuttled, But Department Still Expects 30,000 Employees to Leave on Their Own%u25a0 Military.com | By Rebecca KheelThe Department of Veterans Affairs no longer plans to fire tens of thousands of employees this year, but still expects to shed nearly 30,000 workers through various types of resignations and retirements, the department said Monday.The announcement walked back previous plans, first revealed in a leaked memo in March, to fire as many as 83,000 employees as part of the Trump administration%u2019s overarching goal to slash the size of the federal government -- plans that sparked fierce pushback from veterans and Democrats and muted concern from Republicans.Now, the VA said in a Monday press release, federal hiring freezes, deferred resignations, retirements and %u201cnormal attrition%u201d are %u201celiminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.%u201d%u201cSince March, we%u2019ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans,%u201d VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement. %u201cAs a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction -- both in terms of staff levels and customer service. A department-wide RIF [Reduction in Force] is off the table, but that doesn%u2019t mean we%u2019re done improving VA. Our review has resulted in a host of new ideas for better serving veterans that we will continue to pursue.%u201dNearly 17,000 employees have left since the beginning of the year, while another nearly 12,000 are expected to leave before the end of the fiscal year in September, the release added.The VA staff cuts are part of an overall plan to shrink the federal government that has been led by the White House%u2019s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an advisory agency that was headed by billionaire Elon Musk before he left the administration and publicly clashed with President Donald Trump.In the March memo, the VA had said its %u201cinitial objective%u201d was to go back to 2019 staffing levels.That goal would have essentially reversed the hiring spree that the VA went on during the Biden administration as part of its efforts to implement the PACT Act, the sweeping toxic exposure law that expanded VA health care and benefits to millions of veterans.Veterans raised alarms that such deep cuts would be impossible to achieve without hampering their health care and benefits. Among their efforts to prevent the cuts were large rallies in Washington, D.C.After Monday%u2019s announcement, some veterans groups applauded the reversal.%u201cThis is a sigh of relief for the veterans who depend on the timely delivery of care and benefits, and a far cry from estimates that circulated in March,%u201d Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander Al Lipphardt said in a statement Monday. %u201cWhile the VFW supports fiscal responsibility in the VA, such a largescale RIF would most certainly have been devastating to all veterans, not just those the VA employs. Thankfully, President Trump and VA leadership heard our voice and approached this task with the care and precision it demanded.%u201dCollins had repeatedly defended the planned mass firings as necessary to trim what he viewed as a bloated bureaucracy and insisted that no veterans services would be harmed.With the department still on track to lose about 30,000 employees even with the firings scuttled, the VA continued to insist in its Monday release that there are %u201cmultiple safeguards%u201d to ensure veterans%u2019 care and benefits aren%u2019t affected.But Democrats are still sounding the alarm, saying that 30,000 resignations would mark a historically large cut.%u201cThis announcement makes clear VA is bleeding employees across the board at an unsustainable rate because of the toxic work environment created by this administration and DOGE%u2019s slash and trash policies,%u201d Senate Veterans Affairs Committee ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement. %u201cThis is not %u2018natural%u2019 attrition, it is not strategic, and it will inevitably impact veterans%u2019 care and benefits -- no matter what blanket assurances the VA secretary hides behind.%u201dThe prospect of mass firings at the VA was one of the few developments of the second Trump administration that elicited at least some public concern from Republicans.When the memo first leaked, Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said that any cuts needed to be done %u201cin a more responsible manner%u201d and promised to draft a bill to ensure more congressional oversight, though he has yet to introduce such legislation. Meanwhile, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., said in a March statement that he had %u201cquestions about the impact these reductions and discussions could have on the delivery of services.%u201dBoth chairmen applauded Monday%u2019s announcement that the VA is forgoing mass firings.%u201cFrom the very beginning, I have long said that I had full confidence in Secretary Collins and the Trump administration to make the right decision surrounding any plans to reduce VA%u2019s workforce,%u201d Bost said in a statement. %u201cWith today%u2019s announcement from Secretary Collins, those who have spent the last six months yelling from the sidelines should have held off their criticism of potential plans until a plan was actually in place.%u201dMoran, for his part, said Collins%u2019 decision ensures %u201cveterans are at the center of any changes at the VA%u201d and %u201cprovides greater certainty to VA employees and the veterans they serve.%u201dProtesters demonstrate at a Unite for Veterans rally, Friday, June 6, 2025, on the National Mall in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)