Trump admin plans to cut more than 70,000 jobs at Department of Veteran Affairs, memo says

The Trump administration is planning to cut tens of thousands of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN.

The Trump administration is planning to cut tens of thousands of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. In a memo dated March 4 addressed to “under secretaries, assistant secretaries, and other key officials,” the Veterans Affairs department’s chief of staff Christopher Syrek said that the VA in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will move “aggressively” to restructure the VA across the entire department and “resize” the workforce. As part of that, the department will aim to revert back to its 2019-era staffing levels of 399,957 employees, the memo said. That means more than 70,000 employees could be terminated as part of the restructuring, since the VA employed over 470,000 people as of October 2024, according to the department. The memo, which was first reported by Government Executive, says administration and staff offices within the VA will need to conduct information gathering and report back to the Office of Personnel Management by April 14. The VA grew significantly under the Biden administration, particularly to help implement the PACT Act that Biden signed into law in 2022 to help expand coverage and eligibility to millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins and hazards like burn pits while serving. The VA’s plans to cut its workforce come as other federal agencies have fired scores of employees at the direction of OPM, which was until yesterday advising agencies including the Defense Department to fire probationary workers.