VA reverses course, halts contract cancellations after pressure from Congress
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Wednesday paused an effort to terminate hundreds of contracts after pressure from Democrat lawmakers, according to Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
The major reversal, which came a day after VA Secretary Doug Collins publicly touted the cancellation of up to 875 contracts in a video posted to social media, was relayed in an email to agency staff.
“VA Leadership is reconsidering previous guidance,” the email states, as reported by The Washington Post. The missive ordered the effort halted and that “further contract reviews will be conducted to arrive at a new final decision.”
In a statement to The Hill, an agency spokesperson confirmed the agency’s contract review, which “is ongoing and no final decisions have been made.”
“We’re reviewing VA’s various contracts, and we will be canceling many focusing on non-mission critical things like PowerPoint slides, executive support, and coaching,” they said. “We will not be eliminating any benefits or services to Veterans or VA beneficiaries, and there will be no negative impact to VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. We are always going to take care of Veterans at VA. Period.”
The VA was gearing up to terminate the contracts as part of the Trump administration’s move to cut costs and the civilian workforce across the federal government, led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Collins, in a video posted to X, said the cancellations would save the VA $2 billion that could be redirected back to veterans’ health care and benefits. The to-be-canceled payments were for such services as “executive support,” and staff coaching and training. He added that this was only the start of weeding out unnecessary contracts and more was to come.
It was not clear if the VA had already terminated any contracts.
But Blumenthal, who has been fiercely critical of the wide-ranging and often indiscriminate DOGE cuts, said the contracts the VA was looking to axe “provide critical services to veterans and their families, and allow VA to conduct oversight operations to identify waste, fraud, and abuse,” according to a statement released Tuesday.
Among those on the chopping block, Blumenthal said, were contracts to help process disability compensation benefits, modernize the VA Home Loan Program, cover medical services, provide cancer care, recruit doctors and other medical staff, and provide burial services to veterans.
On Wednesday he pointed to the VA’s temporary reversal as proof the agency is “in turmoil.”
"It’s government by whiplash. Cancel and fire first, analyze later,” Blumenthal said. “These policies are walked back only after veterans, Congress, and the media highlight their harmful impacts.”
The VA’s temporary pause follows two announced rounds of firings at the agency since the start of this month - the first affecting 1,000 workers and the second, announced on Monday, dismissing 1,400 “non-mission critical positions.”
Among those critical of the move was Veterans of Foreign Wars. In the first major statement on the firings from a national veterans service organization, VFW National Commander Al Lipphardt the cuts were not just affecting "brand-new, off-the-street employees," but also former service members who had served their country for decades.
"There are bigger ramifications in firing veterans than just faceless workers being let go,” Lipphardt said in a statement. “The American people are losing technical expertise, training and security clearances already bought and paid for by taxpayers.”
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