The Department of Veteran Affairs faces 80,000 job cuts

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Department of Veteran Affairs plans to cut nearly 80,000 jobs.
Front-line workers like doctors and nurses won't be affected, the former executive director of Utah's Department of Veteran Affairs says.
Protests arise over potential impacts on veterans' services and probationary workers.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Department of Veteran Affairs is the latest target for federal job cuts, with nearly 80,000 positions slated for elimination. This move, announced through a memo from the Department of Government Efficiency, aims to reduce the VA's workforce to pre-2020 levels.

The VA manages a $350 billion-plus budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals, according to the Associated Press. The VA, the second-largest federal department after the Department of Defense, currently employs about 470,000 people. The planned cuts would bring the number of employees back to just under 400,000 — a staffing level last seen in 2019.

Former executive director of Utah's Department of Veteran Affairs Terry Schow weighed in on the cuts after returning from Washington D.C. Schow, who serves on the national executive committee for the American Legion, emphasized that front-line workers such as doctors, nurses, social workers and crisis line staff will not be affected.

"If you're a doctor, if you're a nurse, if you're a social worker or a crisis line worker, those people are not going to be affected by this," Schow assured.

However, Schow warned that probationary workers — many of whom were hired during the Biden Administration — could be at risk. These employees, often still in their trial period, may bear the brunt of the cuts.

Small protests have already begun to sprout up across the country, with demonstrators expressing concern over the impact these job reductions might have on veterans' services.

Schow voiced his own apprehensions, stressing the importance of protecting veterans' interests during this process.

"I want to make sure that, one, veterans aren't harmed. No. 2, if they are doing reductions, that they do actually factor in veteran preference," he said.

Despite the looming cuts, Schow remains cautiously optimistic, trusting the administration's commitment to supporting veterans.

"I am not overly concerned because, at the end of the day, the president has said that they want to look after their veterans," he added.

Looking ahead, Schow predicted that the VA won't be the last department to experience job cuts, hinting that the Department of Defense might be next in line for similar reductions.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that the Department of Veterans Affairs has a budget of $3.5 billion. That has been updated to say it has a budget of more than $350 billion.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Debbie Worthen

Debbie Worthen brings nearly two decades of award-winning journalism experience to the KSL Newsroom and is thrilled be working for Utah’s legacy news organization. She anchors KSL 5 News at 4 and Live at 5 with Mike Headrick and reports for KSL 5 News at 10pm. There are countless things Debbie enjoys about working in local news, but storytelling is at the top of the list. Whether it’s meeting the remarkable people of Utah as they do amazing things, informing viewers of critical breaking news and issues that impact their communities or reporting on daily assignments like weather and traffic, Debbie is honored to be the one trusted to tell Utahn’s stories. She believes journalistic integrity and a commitment to accuracy have never been more important than they are now. Debbie started her career as a writer, producer and traffic reporter while finishing her communications degree at The University of Utah before making the jump to a full-time on-air position. (Although you could say she caught the news “bug” at KOLT-News at Cottonwood High School.) After several moves across the country, Debbie and her husband, Brandon Gilbert, moved to Utah to start their family. They love everything Utah has to offer and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Outside the office, Debbie and her family are advocates for at-risk youth and have fostered several children through Utah Foster Care. As a family they enjoy movie nights in the basement, trying new recipes and, a few times a year, traveling to exotic locations!