Veterans Hit the Hardest: The Impact of Mass Federal Layoffs on Our Heroes
America’s veterans, who are already a primarily disadvantaged demographic, have been hit hard by President Donald Trump’s massive efforts to reduce the federal workforce.
After the Department of Veterans Affairs fired over 1,000 employees who assist in providing services to them, former service members who lost their government jobs are preparing for the possible effects of the mass terminations on their personal lives in addition to frantically finding new sources of income.
A handicapped Army veteran who was fired from her VA position last week expressed concern about wait times. “Whether it’s an emergency or not, it takes longer to get seen if there is not enough staff, from the clerks to the providers.”
According to Allison Jaslow, an Iraq War veteran and the head of the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the layoffs could have a domino effect on veteran unemployment and put millions of veterans at risk of having their benefits interrupted.
It’s a double whammy to a group of people who, according to academics, face impediments to employment and trouble transitioning to civilian life, as well as mental health issues at disproportionate rates as compared to their civilian counterparts.
Veterans and service members, especially those who served after 9/11, are recuperating after 20 years of conflict, many of which involved several deployments without a draft.
“It’s a population that’s already, in many cases, carried a significant burden on behalf of our country and also at the hands of political decision-makers,” Jaslow stated. “You’re talking about a population of Americans who have really taken a beating.”
According to Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a union that represents 110,000 federal employees, the federal government is the nation’s largest employer of veterans.
According to him, veterans make up over 30% of the more than 2.2 million federal employees. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s most recent publicly available data, over half of those veterans are disabled.
Erwin believes that almost 500,000 veterans may lose their jobs as a result of Trump’s purported cost-cutting plan to eliminate the federal workforce and substantially reduce federal expenditures, and that their hardships won’t stop there.
As part of Trump’s strategy, the VA said last week that it had laid off over 1,000 workers. The organization, which had employed over 479,000 people, stated that the changes will enable the allocation of about $98 million annually to veterans’ health care, benefits, and services.
The personnel changes “will not negatively impact VA health care, benefits, or beneficiaries,” according to a statement released by VA Secretary Doug Collins.
According to a VA representative on Thursday, responders with the Veterans Crisis Line, the organization’s suicide hotline, were not affected by the layoffs. According to the VA, “mission-critical” jobs were not affected by the cuts.
“This was a tough decision,” Collins stated”, “but ultimately it’s the right call to better support the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the department exists to serve.
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Dozens of Democratic senators urged Collins to immediately restore individuals who were fired last week, citing significant staffing shortages and an increasing demand for services. In a letter sent Wednesday, they outlined many ways they believe the terminations have already impacted veterans.
According to the senators, VA hospitals and clinics have suspended their operating rooms and beds, halted their service lines, and postponed opening new clinics.
However, the head of the House Committee on soldiers’ Affairs, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., said in a statement that he was “disappointed” to see his Democratic colleagues “fearmonger veterans and their families about phantom cuts to benefits and services.”
“I take Secretary Collins at his word when he says there is no impact to the delivery of care, benefits, and services for veterans with this plan,” Bost stated.
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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who stated that his office has been requesting information about veterans from the Trump administration.
“We are being reassured that no one at the VA who has any direct care responsibilities are being terminated or laid off, and we’re just looking for the positions and circumstances in which it’s occurring,” he stated.