National Adjutant Message

Barry A. Jesinoski, National Adjutant

Keeping a close eye on proposed VA workforce cuts

Nearly every day in recent months, concerned veterans have reached out to DAV, eager to know our position on the proposed staff cuts and cost-saving measures at the Department of Veterans Affairs. There’s been understandable fear and anxiety. News of reductions that risk interfering with veterans’ health care and earned benefits is deeply troubling, especially when those changes were first discovered through leaked documents and implemented without consultation from veterans groups like DAV.

Let me be clear: DAV will always demand a strong, fully funded and adequately staffed VA that delivers world-class health care and timely benefits to those forever changed by their service. Period.

Others may weigh in on partisan dynamics, but DAV will stay laser-focused on protecting veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors.

The VA, as the federal government’s second-largest agency, certainly has room to improve how it manages its over $350 billion budget and 480,000-strong workforce. At our recent mid-winter conference, I was encouraged to hear Secretary Doug Collins pledge to redirect wasteful spending into better care and customer service for veterans. But now, that promise is being tested as the VA begins implementing a reduction in force of around 70,000 employees.

Veterans are being told that services won’t be affected, but this reassurance rings hollow. The proposal to return to 2019 staffing levels ignores the present-day reality that more veterans than ever are choosing the VA, especially following the passage of the historic, bipartisan PACT Act, a major expansion of health care and benefits DAV was proud to help achieve.

DAV is not categorically opposed to reductions made in the name of efficiency. But these decisions must be guided by transparent, meaningful dialogue before the fact, not after. Too often, veterans are left out of the process and treated as an afterthought. Our members are alarmed by a troubling pattern: Veterans’ voices are ignored until the damage is already done.

We demand accountability. How are these cuts being determined? What metrics are driving them? How will the VA prevent harm to veterans and their families? Without honest answers, fear grows—fear of promises broken and a heavy-handed bureaucracy replacing care with cold calculations.

Veterans are still lining up. They need and deserve dedicated, knowledgeable employees to serve them. Drastic staffing cuts now would be like removing the best mechanics from a pit crew midrace. We simply can’t afford to gamble with veterans care at such a critical moment.

Any large-scale personnel change must be transparent, purposeful and grounded in veterans’ needs.

Veterans can always count on DAV to shine a light on the VA when it keeps America’s promise—and to hold its feet to the fire when it falls short.

If you want to find out more about the National Adjutant, you can find his biography here.