Topline
The Department of Veterans Affairs will reportedly slash as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, reducing its overall workforce by about 10% from last year, amid a steep decline in applicants and a nationwide shortage of health care workers.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Key Facts
Most of the cuts will be for unfilled positions, including nurses, doctors and support staff, The Washington Post reported Saturday, citing unnamed sources and an internal memo it viewed.
VA spokesperson Pete Kasperowicz confirmed the cuts, telling the paper the agency would eliminate about 26,400 unfilled positions he described as “mostly covid-era roles that are no longer necessary.”
The cuts come after the agency eliminated 30,000 jobs, mostly through buyout offers and attrition, in a mass reorganization earlier this year.
The VA is also expected to eliminate some of its 18 regional offices, The Post reported, citing four unnamed sources who said the announcement could be made next week.
Chief Critic
“The VA has been chronically understaffed for years, and employees are obviously going to be facing the brunt of any further job cuts or reorganization that results in employees having to do more work with less,” Thomas Dargon Jr., deputy general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest government workers union, told The Post.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/12/13/veterans-affairs-cutting-as-many-as-35000-jobs-by-end-of-year-report-says/
