Senators blast Biden administration’s staffing plans for veterans’ health care

The top two senators on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs called the Biden administration’s plan to reduce veterans’ healthcare staffing a “mess” that could undercut the timing and quality of care.

The top two senators on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs called the Biden administration’s plan to reduce veterans’ health care staffing a “mess” that could undercut the timing and quality of care. In a letter sent to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough Monday, Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, demanded to know why the VA has paused hiring and planned to cut 10,000 full-time jobs despite veterans across the nation experiencing long wait times for care. Their letter, obtained by CNN, called VA’s apparent “zero growth” policy a “drastic” and “shortsighted” decision. Though the VA told the committee that critical staff and some others would be exempt, Tester and Moran wrote that has not been the case. The letter, which noted that the VA last year underwent a hiring spree and had a record number of clinical appointments, stated that congressional staff has heard from VA employees and others that various VA locations have rescinded job offers for mental health providers and stalled hiring of housing case managers, among other issues. “They’re cutting front-line people who see patients in the clinic,” a VA employee with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak and feared retaliation told CNN. “They refuse to put things in writing. … We have no idea why they are making this move.” The VA Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, responding to a question about staffing decisions at a news conference last month, said the VA’s workforce could be cut by 10,000 positions through “attrition and voluntary separation.” He added those cuts would primarily involve positions that “are not directly veteran facing.”