Trump's federal hiring freeze sparks concerns about veterans' care

President Trump’s new federal hiring freeze has congressional lawmakers and former service members worried that operations at Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities will be hindered.

The government-wide freeze, which came on Day 1 of Trump’s presidency via executive order, could prevent critical health care roles from being filled and complicate care for veterans, its critics fear.

The administration has no “regard for the impact it would have on veterans’ access to healthcare and benefits, nor for the urgent need to fill critical clinical vacancies within VA, such as mental health providers and nurses,” House Veterans' Affairs Committee ranking member Mark Takano (D-Calif.) said in a statement Thursday.

“Thousands of Americans have already received notifications that VA has rescinded their job offers, despite many of these individuals having already committed financial resources to relocate, some even selling their homes. Now, they and veterans are being left in limbo."

The Trump administration implemented the freeze as a way to thin out what they see as a bureaucrat-heavy workforce.

“Most of those bureaucrats are getting fired, they’re gone,” Trump said in his remarks before signing the executive order on Jan. 20. He said the move will ensure the government only hires “competent people who are faithful to the American public.”

While incoming employees with job offers given prior to Jan. 20 will be allowed to begin their jobs if their start date was scheduled for on or before Feb. 8, everyone else will have offers rescinded.

Lawmakers quickly took to social media platforms to express their displeasure with the decision, which they said was potentially disruptive to agency operations.

“When someone puts their life on the line to defend this country in uniform, we in turn, promise them health care after their service,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote Thursday on the social platform X. “Trump froze all hiring at the VA at a time when the VA is experiencing a shortage of doctors & nurses. Unacceptable. Our veterans deserve better.”

And Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) this week led a group of 24 Democratic senators calling on Trump to immediately exempt all VA employees from the hiring freeze.

“This area of veterans care is so critical and that is why I am so angry about the application of a hiring freeze to our VA health care system,” he said Friday on MSNBC. “Failing to fill the openings for the doctors, the nurses, for the [benefits personnel] that are needed is a real betrayal of our veterans.”

Those within the VA and former service members also voiced their worries about the chilling effects the freeze could have on the agency’s medical centers, which already struggle with appointment backlogs and staffing.

Kelley Saindon, who sits on the board of the Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, told House lawmakers this week that the freeze could create an inability to staff care facilities at needed levels, which will impact patient care.

“We’re concerned about our reputation to continue to get the most qualified individuals within the VA system and maintain them,” said Saindon, who is an associate director of nursing and patient care services at a VA facility.

Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force veteran who served as under secretary of the Air Force under President Biden, said she gets her own care through the VA, “so I know a VA hiring freeze would do two things: cause delays in vets getting care and strain local health care resources if more vets are forced to see community providers. We shouldn’t be playing politics with our veterans’ health care.”

The anger did not fall on deaf ears, and VA officials have since identified more than 300,000 department health care posts deemed essential and therefore exempt from the freeze, according to new guidance issued Thursday.

The memo, issued by acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter, labeled 39 roles as essential to public health and department operations, including nurses, nursing assistants, mental health providers, physical therapists, prosthetic specialists, medical records administrators and police. About 304,000 jobs fall under the 39 categories, or about two-thirds of the VA’s workforce.

A statement released alongside the memo also dictates that nothing in it shall “adversely impact Veterans’ benefits and does not apply to positions related to public safety. ”

“VA remains committed to being deliberative in the hiring actions taken to ensure we are postured for success as we implement overall modernization efforts and reform plans in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget,” Hunter wrote.

Additional positions related to veterans' benefits processing could also be exempted, but offices must submit justification for those.

VA secretary nominee Doug Collins acknowledged during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that the VA was still working through which positions will be affected.

“We'll take a look at the current levels of employees that we have and where they're properly located,” Collins said, adding that he was “still examining” the freeze’s impact on the VA. “We will work under the executive order [Trump] has given us.”

That answer wasn’t satisfactory to some Democrats on the panel, including Blumenthal.

“This is going to be a first test of your leadership, whether you fight for an exemption in the hiring freeze for the non-veterans benefits employees who are needed to care for veterans at medical facilities,” Blumenthal said.

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