Trump administration plans to cut over 80,000 employees from Veterans Affairs

[Tumblin Tumbleweed]

VA healthcare routinely ranks higher than most other large-scale healthcare operations around the country.

It's usually the pencil-pushers who get in the way of skilled clinicians caring for our oh-so-deserving veterans.

It is my soft-and-fuzzy understanding that the VA did a lot of COVID hiring but had no exit plan once that crisis had passed.

It's my initial guess that doctors and nurses and med-techs aren't at-risk, rather, it's the pencil-pushers who are in trouble.

There is considerable waste and bloat within the agency - including incompetent handling of various large-scale projects.

It's also a good guess that large numbers of middle-managers currently have targets painted on their chests as well.

If I recall this correctly, the VA hosts the largest non-DoD (civilian) healthcare system in the country.

And care is going to vary from one of the 160+ VA hospitals and 1500+ community clinics to another...

There are, indeed, some "stinker" hospital campuses and community clinics and individual clinicians...

But, for the most part, veterans who have been receiving VA healthcare want to CONTINUE receiving VA healthcare...

VA healthcare facilities are something of a "safe space" or "comfortable space" for vast numbers of our veteran population...

And, as I recall, the VA is the largest non-DoD (civilian) agency in the Federal government...

DOGE is going to have their hands full with that agency... vastly more sizable and complex and critical than most of the others...

And God help the President or any of his minions if veteran care is impacted substantively and broadly due to DOGE activity...

No... the VA could USE a damned-good looking-over for waste, fraud and abuse, but... they'll need to be careful with that one...

IMHO.

^^^ Found the VA employee. ^^^

 

[DGS49]

For those of us who have spent much time in the corporate world, this sort of thing is normal, and usually it is accomplished with minimal impact on accomplishment of the mission - which is not to deny the thousands of micro-tragedies for the impacted employees.

There is a general perception - perhaps fed by Musk's chainsaw antics - that Musk and DOGE are doing all this in a haphazard fashion, but I cannot imagine that it is being done without input from local managers.

To me, a former Federal employee, the concern is that they will make the cuts based on seniority rather than performance, which would be a big mistake.

 

[el midgetron]

Really? What an idiot.

Yeah. Most people (you being the exception of course) will actually attempt to make themselves less of a target. We have already seen it in the world of DEI (see below).

If there are ways the people in the VA can make themselves more useful or productive, many of the more intelligent ones will be motivated to do so in the interest of job security.

Federal employees quietly edit job descriptions to protect roles from DOGE scrutiny | CNN Politics

Some federal employees are quietly changing the language of job descriptions and performance reviews in an effort to protect roles and critical government functions in the face of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

amp.cnn.com

 

[elektra]

Exactly
A person working at home can account for what they accomplish as well as a person working in a cubicle

You evaluate the product they produce, not whether they park their ass in a cubicle

And when the boss says come to work, that is what you do

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Trump went after probationary employees because they were low hanging fruit and did not have MSPB protections
Instead of thanking them for their service and explaining they were let go for budgetary reasons, the prick insisted on saying they were let go for poor performance in their termination letters
Even though they had good appraisals, recent promotions or performance bonuses on their record

I thought you worked for the government at one time. You know the only way to terminate a probationary employee easily is for poor performance. It only takes one form letter. That's likely what they did.

 

[candycorn]

I see no way you can cut the VA by 80,000 without affecting veterans services

Trump does not care about our veterans. He thinks they are suckers

He likes veterans who don't want benefits.

 

[candycorn]

That is a good point.

Its also inaccurate.

 

[candycorn]

If they have done an audit on the agencies, they probably have a good record of the employees.

Is that why they are constantly re-hiring the people they fired hours earlier?

You are so full of shit.

'Read this e-mail immediately': CDC tells about 180 fired employees to come back to work

They were dismissed as part of President Donald Trump’s and billionaire Elon Musk’s cost-cutting purge

apnews.com

 

[JWBooth]

Except for college, I’ve not taken advantage of my veteran status. It’s just something I did when I was young and didn’t know better.
The vets I have known personally that did partake didn’t end up with medical care as good as I have in the private sector.

 

[Mac-7]

If the agency is overstaffed by 1/5 cutting 1/6th shouldn't affect services. You're going in with the assumption that the agency is efficiently using it's manpower now, which is a terrible assumption about a government entity.

The survivors of trump/musk downsizing are not going to work harder to make up for the missing workers

They will in fact do even less, or as little as possible short of getting fired, and blame any delay in services on the rif and elon musk

 

[Care4all]

All that has ever been talked about for the past 20 years is how long the wait times at the VA are to get necessary health care for our veterans has been crappy, and killing our veterans.....

My oh my.....now what is black is now white, what is up is now down, what is left is now right....what is bad, is now good...

Sad to see...you lap dogs reverse and jerk yourselves around so much for your god, your king or should I say kings?

 

[Mac-7]

All that has ever been talked about for the past 20 years is how long the wait times at the VA are to get necessary health care for our veterans has been crappy, and killing our veterans.....

My oh my.....now what is black is now white, what is up is now down, what is left is now right....what is bad, is now good...

Sad to see...you lap dogs reverse and jerk yourselves around so much for your god, your king or should I say kings?

The VA should confine its services to retirees and non retirees with service related injuries

 

[JGalt]

I see no way you can cut the VA by 80,000 without affecting veterans services

Trump does not care about our veterans. He thinks they are suckers

Hilarious first response right off the bat.

You Trump-haters don't care about vets. Most of you have never served and have always hated the military. That was until Trump became President, then you became instant "patriots."

 

[krichton]

VA healthcare routinely ranks higher than most other large-scale healthcare operations around the country.

It's usually the pencil-pushers who get in the way of skilled clinicians caring for our oh-so-deserving veterans.

It is my soft-and-fuzzy understanding that the VA did a lot of COVID hiring but had no exit plan once that crisis had passed.

It's my initial guess that doctors and nurses and med-techs aren't at-risk, rather, it's the pencil-pushers who are in trouble.

There is considerable waste and bloat within the agency - including incompetent handling of various large-scale projects.

It's also a good guess that large numbers of middle-managers currently have targets painted on their chests as well.

If I recall this correctly, the VA hosts the largest non-DoD (civilian) healthcare system in the country.

And care is going to vary from one of the 160+ VA hospitals and 1500+ community clinics to another...

There are, indeed, some "stinker" hospital campuses and community clinics and individual clinicians...

But, for the most part, veterans who have been receiving VA healthcare want to CONTINUE receiving VA healthcare...

VA healthcare facilities are something of a "safe space" or "comfortable space" for vast numbers of our veteran population...

And, as I recall, the VA is the largest non-DoD (civilian) agency in the Federal government...

DOGE is going to have their hands full with that agency... vastly more sizable and complex and critical than most of the others...

And God help the President or any of his minions if veteran care is impacted substantively and broadly due to DOGE activity...

No... the VA could USE a damned-good looking-over for waste, fraud and abuse, but... they'll need to be careful with that one...

IMHO.

But is Elon going through the VA and other federal agencies with a fine tooth comb to weed out "waste," or is he simply taking a sledgehammer to employees simply so he can free up enough money to say, SEE, now we can do tax cuts for the rich!

 

[rightwinger]

Hilarious first response right off the bat.

You Trump-haters don't care about vets. Most of you have never served and have always hated the military. That was until Trump became President, then you became instant "patriots."

President Biden expanded the services VA provides and employees to provide those services

Trump is slashing those employees.
Don’t pretend there will be no impact

 

[rightwinger]

All that has ever been talked about for the past 20 years is how long the wait times at the VA are to get necessary health care for our veterans has been crappy, and killing our veterans.....

My oh my.....now what is black is now white, what is up is now down, what is left is now right....what is bad, is now good...

Sad to see...you lap dogs reverse and jerk yourselves around so much for your god, your king or should I say kings?

Trump does not care about veterans
Never has

Slash VA staffing then use decreased VA service as an excuse to privatize the VA

 

[Lesh]

I see no way you can cut the VA by 80,000 without affecting veterans services

Trump does not care about our veterans. He thinks they are suckers

Of COURSE cutting that many people from their workforce would af de cr services and increase wait times.

And here other kicker. When it was pointed out that many of the fired workers are veterans themselves, what did the Trump Admin say?

They probably shouldn’t have had jobs in the first place

This is what you people voted for??

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I see no way you can cut the VA by 80,000 without affecting veterans services

Trump does not care about our veterans. He thinks they are suckers

Not necessarily true.
How is it different than 2019?
If it is true that the VA exploded their numbers by 80,000 in 4 years without any increase in caseload... it won't affect it at all.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

President Biden expanded the services VA provides and employees to provide those services

Trump is slashing those employees.
Don’t pretend there will be no impact

Political patronage is a Dem tradition.

 

[Care4all]

The VA should confine its services to retirees and non retirees with service related injuries

That my dear, is constitutionally under Congress....our representation, not the musk-rat's or the President.

Why oh why, do you ignore our Constitution?