Trump To Cut Over 70,000 Employees From Veterans Affairs Department
X/ @hobodreamer
March 6, 2025 Hour: 9:43 am
Since the DOGE began its work at the end of January, more than 30,000 federal employees have been laid off nationwide.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to cut over 70,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
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In an internal memo dated Tuesday, the VA Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek said that the department, in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will move “aggressively” to restructure the VA across the entire department and “resize” the workforce.
The department aims to return its workforce to 2019 levels of just under 400,000 employees, which means more than 70,000 employees could be terminated.
“What’s going to happen is VA’s not going to perform as well for veterans, and veterans are going to get harmed,” said Michael Missal, who was the VA’s inspector general for nine years until he was fired as part of Trump’s sweeping dismissal of independent oversight officials, as reported by Associated Press.
Since the DOGE led by billionaire Elon Musk began its work at the end of January, more than 30,000 federal employees have been laid off nationwide.
The White House previously stated that approximately 75,000 federal employees have accepted a “buyout” plan, which offers them eight months of salary for “deferred resignation.”
That means that over 100,000 federal employee positions have been slashed, accounting for about 4.5 percent of the 2.3 million federal workforce, moving closer to the White House’s target of reducing the workforce by 5-10 percent.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: Xinhua – AP – CNN
