With the threat of up to 80,000 job cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the new head of the agency faced angry senators Tuesday with few answers. Meanwhile, lawmakers offered legislation aimed at protecting a veteran’s crisis hotline amid the agency’s turmoil.
VA Secretary Doug Collins appeared in front of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs for the first time Tuesday where he faced contentious questioning over staffing upheavals at the VA. In two February rounds of firings, the VA dismissed 1,000 and then 1,400 more employees, which included veterans (a federal judge has temporarily halted the second round of firing).
But when senators pressed Collins on the threat of much larger cuts, he called the reports of an additional 80,000 positions on the chopping block — or15% of the agency workforce — a “goal to look at our restructuring,” but not yet a reality. Collins declined to explain the “deliberative process” over reductions in front of Congress.
“There’s not been 83,000 people targeted for firing,” he said. “You start with what you’re looking for, and then you use the data that you find from your organizations to make the best choices you can.”
Staff cuts, Collins said, would spare doctors, nurses and claims processors but phase out non-essential roles “like interior designers and other things DEI.”
But Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, said the reduced staff has already led to postponed mammogram appointments, as well as reduced availability for prosthetic fitting services, operating rooms and inpatient recovery room care.
“Support personnel are absolutely necessary, answering the phones, cleaning the surgical equipment, preparing the operating rooms, scheduling the appointments, or fixing the IT systems,” Blumenthal said. “Those burdens will fall to others, or they will simply fall through the cracks if you slash and trash.”
Notably, a Republican Senator offered cautiously critical remarks on the VA reductions, a departure from typical Republican approach of overwhelming silence on staffing cuts by Trump-installed officials. Chairman of the committee, Sen. Jerry Moran from Kansas, told Collins that cuts at the VA should not be arbitrary.
“I have told you on the phone that it ought not be a set number that you’re trying to reach. It ought to be about right sizing,” Moran said. “I want to hear from you that the changes underway at the VA are backed by data.”
Veterans Crisis Line
One program that lawmakers have put under the spotlight is the Veterans Crisis Line, a toll-free hotline connecting veterans and service members in crisis with mental healthcare providers. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) plans to introduce a bill Wednesday to expand Congressional oversight of the hotline, requiring a 48-hour notice on crisis line terminations, justifications for the firings, and an indication of whether those let go would be veterans or military spouses. The bill also calls for a report on the hotline staffing, operations and performance.
At an American Legion event in February, Collins said only “backroom staff” had been cut from the crisis line, adding that any employees who answered the phones or worked directly with veterans had been spared.
But Duckworth said she knew of at least one veteran let go from the crisis line that had not been rehired. She said that contradicted Collins’ response to a letter sent by Senate democrats about crisis line firings. In an April 7 letter, Collins wrote that 24 crisis line employees “erroneously received probationary termination notices, all notices were rescinded. All terminated employees were reinstated and have been rehired into the same position they previously held.”
When Moran asked if the crisis line now had fewer staff, Collins said the same number of staff who were let go were brought back.
Duckworth emphasized that any cuts, including support staff at the crisis line, would impact its mission.
“Crisis line serves veterans in their darkest hour, and it is our responsibility to make certain that it operates to the highest standards, just as every military commander understands that our war fighters’ effectiveness, indeed their lethality, depends on a fully resourced, diverse network of enablers,” she said. “You can’t just say, okay, we’re going to take care of the pilots, but not the refuelers and the mechanics who maintain that jet.
VA employee union rights
A second bill Duckworth plans to re-introduce Wednesday would expand VA clinical staff’s collective bargaining rights and give them the right to speak up about workplace safety issues that impact care, an issue democrats have highlighted as a potential impact of the mass firings.
In April, Collins began the process of stripping unionizing rights from VA workers by issuing a federal register notice concurring with the Trump Administration’s executive order that precludes federal workers in “national security” from collective bargaining rights as union members. During questioning by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about the executive order and whether VA workers are a “threat to national security,” Collins said: “I don’t think that was the purpose of the EO.”
The bill titled “The VA Employee Fairness Act” would allow VA clinical staff like nurses, doctors, dentists, and physician assistants to speak out against poor working conditions and other workplace issues. A House version of the bill by the ranking member of the House Veteran Affairs Committee Rep. Mark Takan. (D-Calif.), will also be introduced on Wednesday. It previously passed the House in December 2022 with bipartisan support.
“The VA Employee Fairness Act would grant these indispensable workers the collective bargaining rights they deserve and have been fighting for while improving VA employee retention,” Takano said in a statement. “This legislation is more critical than ever, given the Administration’s efforts to fire VA employees and make cuts that continue to diminish VA employee morale.”
According to the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing hundreds of thousands federal and D.C. workers, VA title 38 staff have limited rights compared to other federal agency workers and even those like VA psychologists and pharmacists who are classified as Title 5 employees. Title 38 workers, according to AFGE, are not allowed to negotiate their schedules, raise concerns “over things like staffing shortages that undermine patient care,” challenge pay law violations or VA policies. ?