FACT SHEET: Trump and Musk Endanger Veterans’ Care, Heartlessly Fire Thousands Who’ve Served in Uniform
Trump’s VA announced another round of 1,400 indiscriminate firings late Monday–jeopardizing veterans’ benefits and care
VA’s cancellation of nearly 900 contracts supporting patient safety and veteran privacy, as well as its decision to reduce medical centers’ purchase card limits to $1, will further endanger veterans’ access to benefits and care
Trump and Musk fire veterans across government
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, detailed how President Trump and his billionaire co-president Elon Musk’s hazardous directives and indiscriminate mass firings endanger the benefits and care veterans have earned and deserve–and how the two are thoughtlessly firing thousands of veterans who have served our nation in uniform who fulfill critical roles across the federal government.
In a statement, Senator Murray said:
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are utterly betraying our veterans–indiscriminately firing men and women who have served our nation in uniform and endangering the care and benefits they deserve and have earned.
“Trump and Musk’s heartless firings will worsen VA’s longstanding staffing shortage and force veterans to wait longer to have their claims handled, have their phone calls picked up, or even see a doctor. That is downright unacceptable.
“Now, Trump and Musk are also paralyzing countless operations at VA hospitals across the country by essentially freezing their purchase cards–preventing them from buying more supplies for hospitals, operating shuttles for patients, covering lodging for veterans, and much more. This is a totally senseless and reckless move that is creating more chaos for VA providers and their patients.
“Trump and Musk have now fired thousands of veterans who–after serving their nation in uniform–have chosen to next serve their country as civilians. Now, these veterans are without jobs, wondering what they’ll do next and how they will provide for themselves and their families.
“Trump and Musk are jeopardizing VA patient safety, and they are going to push out the VA staff that remain with their uninformed and thoughtless mandates and staffing cuts. This shutdown of the VA, bit by bit, must immediately stop.”
INTENSIFYING VA’s STAFF SHORTAGE
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has long suffered severe staffing shortages, including in clinical positions, which have negatively impacted veterans’ ability to get the support, benefits, and care they need.
To address these shortages, VA has sought–and Congress has provided–expanded hiring authorities and increased pay and bonus schedules for certain VA employees, underscoring how serious staffing challenges have been. VA’s Office of Inspector General reported, for instance, 2,959 severe occupational staffing shortages at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities in fiscal year 2024.
Nonetheless, President Trump has not only initiated a federal hiring freeze but has indiscriminately fired thousands of VA staff–without providing information about who has been laid off or why.
Trump and Musk have now fired more than 2,400 staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in mass–with VA announcing the firing of 1,000 staff on February 13 and another 1,400 on February 23.
VA has also lost other critical staff through the Trump administration’s “deferred resignation program.”
ENDANGERING VETERANS’ ACCESS TO BENEFITS AND CARE—AND PATIENTS’ SAFETY
Veterans deserve to be able to get the benefits and care they have earned, but Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s heartless firings of VA staff are threatening their ability to do just that.
Firing VA employees will–among much else–likely force veterans to wait longer:
- To see health care providers;
- To have their disability claims adjudicated;
- To have someone to pick up their calls at the Veterans Crisis Line;
- To have burial and funeral expense reimbursement requests processed;
- And much more.
A number of staff supporting the Veterans Crisis Line–which provides 24/7, confidential crisis support for veterans and their loved ones–were among those fired by Trump and Musk.
In 2022, Congress also passed the PACT Act, the largest expansion of veterans’ benefits in two decades, which requires a significant influx of resources and staff to deliver the benefits and care under the law. Trump and Musk’s firings–and hiring freeze–badly undercut VA’s ability to process claims under the law. The mass firings and the ongoing hiring freeze, which prohibits new disability claims raters from coming on board, will force the backlog of unprocessed claims to grow above 254,000.
Firing long-time VA researchers also puts clinical trials that veterans are enrolled in at risk and jeopardizes research that could yield critical breakthroughs for veterans.
- Ongoing VA research is examining treatment options for PTSD and opioid addiction, as well as for cancer that was caused by veterans’ exposure to toxic chemicals, among much else.
- According to VA, in fiscal year 2024, there were 102 active research sites nationwide, with 3,685 active principal investigators who led 7,278 active funded research projects involving teams of researchers. In addition, VA investigators authored or coauthored 11,732 published research articles.
VA’s dangerous directives this week, which they have already begun to walk back, cause more harmful chaos and confusion and also have detrimental impacts on the ability of veterans to receive their care and benefits.
- VA issued a blanket cancellation on Tuesday of nearly 900 contracts–supporting patient safety efforts like chemical waste disposal and monitoring of hospital air quality, systems providing secure storage of veterans’ private records, clinical recruitment efforts, and more.
- VA also implemented a decision to reduce purchase card limits to $1–curbing VA medical centers’ ability to purchase supplies and equipment they need to serve veterans or to provide lodging for transplant patients.
While the Trump administration tries to rehire clinical staff they have already fired and may ultimately walk back the purchase card limits and contract cancellations, it is clear that they are acting before thinking–and the people paying the price are veterans.
BETRAYING VETERANS WITH ZERO JUSTIFICATION
Beyond indiscriminately firing workers who help get veterans the benefits and care they have earned, Trump and Musk have also indiscriminately fired thousands of veterans who have served our country in uniform. In firing probationary and other federal workers across government, Trump and Musk have fired scores of veterans.
- Veterans make up 30% of the federal workforce, and the federal government is the largest single employer of veterans in the country.
- Trump and Musk have already fired nearly 6,000 veterans, by one recent estimate.
- Federal agencies uniquely work to hire and accommodate veterans with service-related disabilities. Longstanding law requires, for example, that veterans who are disabled or who serve on active duty in the Armed Forces in military campaigns are entitled to preference over others in hiring from a list of eligible, competitive applicants. In 2021, there were 337,000 disabled Veterans serving in the federal government, making up 16% of the federal workforce.
As one veteran in Washington state who was laid off by VA through no fault of his own told Senator Murray last week:
“I swore an oath to serve our country—first in the U.S. Army and then at the VA—only to be abruptly terminated by the very institution that promised to care for those who have served. My termination isn’t just a personal tragedy; it’s a stark reminder that our federal government is dismantling essential support systems for veterans and vulnerable communities. When cost-cutting means sacrificing dedicated, disabled service members and committed federal employees, it isn’t about efficiency—it’s about eroding the trust and dignity that our nation owes to those who answer the call to serve.”
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