VA plans to abruptly eliminate tens of thousands of health care jobs
Source: Washington Post
December 13, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EST
The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, mostly unfilled jobs including doctors, nurses and support staff, according to an internal memo, VA staffers and congressional aides. The cuts come after a massive reorganization effort already resulted in the loss of almost 30,000 employees this year.
Agency leaders have instructed managers across the Veterans Health Administration, the agency’s health care arm, to identify thousands of openings that can be canceled. Employees warn that the contraction will add pressure to an already stretched system, contributing to longer wait times for care.
The decision comes after Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins, under political pressure from Congress, backed away from a plan to slash 15 percent of the agency’s workforce through mass firings. Instead, VA lost almost 30,000 employees this year from buyout offers and attrition.
The agency hopes that the cuts will reduce the health care workforce to as little as 372,000 employees, a 10 percent reduction from last year, according to a memo shared with regional leaders last month and obtained by The Washington Post. Details of the cuts came into focus in recent days, according to 17 staffers at VA and congressional aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they didn’t have permission to share plans.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/13/va-veterans-affairs-job-cuts-trump/
No paywall (gift)
As a sidenote - my dad had worked at the VA as a Computer Programmer (COBOL) back when it was called the "Veterans Administration", from ~mid-50s - the mid-'70s before he passed (had just gotten a 20 year pin that I still have and he was a WW2 vet). So just watching what they are doing with destroying this valued (now-) Department, is sickening.
From a Census report (under Biden Oct. 2024) - https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2024/veterans-day.html
Did You Know?
15.8 million
The number of military veterans in the United States in 2023, representing 6.1% of the total civilian population age 18 and over.
When someone serves in the military (whether they were drafted, like my dad, or volunteer as a career) we promised to take care of them. And dumbfuck Doug Collns WAS A CHAPLAIN in the military and apparently doesn't give a shit. He should be deefrocked.
= new reply since forum marked as read
they would save so much costs and give out more tax cuts. 
So there's that. 
(he passed away in 1974).
My mom would talk about how he would always say that he was "trained by 'The Admiral'" (Adm. Grace Hopper herself).
