GOP senators eye legislative guardrails as VA prepares mass job cuts

Key Republican lawmakers are working with Veterans Affairs leaders on legislative guardrails to proposed staffing cuts at the department, ensuring those moves are done “in a responsible manner” with minimal impact on patients and beneficiaries.

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said a proposed bill — expected to be unveiled in coming weeks — comes in response to department proposals to cull more than 80,000 jobs within VA in coming months, part of broader efforts by President Donald Trump to dramatically reduce the size of the federal workforce.

“Changes which affect VA policy and personnel must be thoughtful, transparent and carried out in close coordination with this committee and with stakeholders, including veterans and the veterans service organizations,” Moran said at a committee hearing Tuesday.

“I have personally conveyed this message to [VA Secretary Doug] Collins. The secretary has committed to me that he will testify before this committee about his plans and how he intends to eliminate waste and inefficiency, and refocus resources to improve delivery of healthcare and benefits to veterans.”

The enhanced oversight by Moran represents a mild rebuke of the department’s handling of the workforce reduction plan thus far. News of the planned staff cuts were made public after a document leak earlier this month, forcing Collins to publicly acknowledge the internal discussions.

In an interview with Military Times on March 5, Collins insisted the employee cuts will not impact health or benefits delivery but will return the department to 2019 workforce levels, before a concerted hiring push by former President Joe Biden’s administration.

“I’ve been given a mandate, and that is just to run the VA in the way that it’s supposed to be run, putting veterans in our services and putting our health care in the best position it can be,” Collins said.

Mark Engelbaum, assistant secretary of VA’s Office of Human Resources, told committee members at the Tuesday hearing that VA is just beginning to develop the plans for resizing the workforce, and a full analysis will be completed over the next four months before those staff cuts are made.

But he also said the reductions — and other contracting cuts — must be considered to make the department more efficient and effective. An 80,000-worker cut would undo nearly all of the department’s workforce additions during the Biden administration.

Democratic members of the committee rejected Engelbaum’s assertions and said the chairman’s plan for legislation doesn’t go far enough.

“We can’t ignore the ongoing ship sinking right before us,” said Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

“I’m glad to hear [the chairman] is in informal talks with Secretary Collins, but he should be here right now, so we can ask him about the chaos and confusion, the apparent malevolent, cruel and callous actions that have been taken against the VA workforce already.”

Blumenthal noted that nearly 2,500 VA employees have already been dismissed this year, as part of probationary employee cuts and the elimination of diversity and inclusion programs within the department.

The committee’s top Democrat on Tuesday introduced his own bill, which would mandate the rehiring of all veterans and military spouses dismissed from federal service in recent weeks, block future firings and hiring freezes and limit the access of Department of Government Efficiency workers to VA offices and databases.

Fellow committee member Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., unveiled similar legislation last week, calling for the return of some VA workers and fired federal workers to the office. Several other Democratic lawmakers have offered similar measures in recent weeks.

None of those bills are likely to become law, since Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House. But a bill from Moran with significant Republican backing would have a much more likely path to success.

Moran did not announce a specific date for Collins’ appearance before the committee to testify about his reform plans, or when specifics on the guardrail legislation may be released.