Overview

• The VA will reduce total staff from roughly 484,000 at the start of the year to about 450,000 by September 30, reflecting a net cut of 30,000 employees.
• About 17,000 workers have already departed under a federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations and voluntary early retirement authority.
• The department expects nearly 12,000 additional exits via normal attrition and the deferred resignation program before the fiscal year closes.
• VA Secretary Doug Collins affirmed that all mission-critical positions are exempt from these measures and insisted that veteran care and benefits will remain intact.
• Senate Veterans Affairs chair Jerry Moran welcomed the scaled-back approach while Democrats like Richard Blumenthal warned that ongoing cuts could still harm service delivery.