I have a few comments in response to DC Duncan’s May 2 column here in the Pagosa Daily Post.
First — welcome home, brother. Though readers who are not veterans of our war won’t understand the significance of that greeting — Mr Duncan does.
I’m a veteran of that same war — one who (in Duncan’s words) “returned upright brought the war home with them”. I have a disability rating with the Veteran’s Administration, and have been receiving counseling from them for many years. I was President of an international veterans organization for 6 years, after serving on the Board of Directors for over a decade.
All that is to say that I am in a position to comment on Mr Duncan’s description of the VA. I agree with much, but not all, of what he related in his column.
Let’s begin with his statement “I’d forgotten about the enormous 83,000 person VA hatchet job inflicted by the present administration.”
Where does that “83,000″ number come from? It’s the DOGE recommendation to reduce staffing levels back to what they were in 2019 — during Donald Trump’s first term.
“In the memo, VA Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek said the department’s ‘initial objective’ is to return to 2019 staffing levels of 399,957 employees — or about 83,000 fewer employees than the VA has right now.”
That article claims the staff reductions are of employees added subsequent to the 2022 ‘Pact Act’, which apparently gave the Biden administration a justification for government hiring “to ensure the department could handle the influx of new patients and benefits claims”. Meaning, the hiring was in anticipation of staffing needs, rather than what may have been actually needed.
How did hiring staff to administer DEI help with the “influx of new patients and benefits claims”? More about that later.
Here’s what I know from first-hand experience (and that of many other vets I spoken with), about the VA prior to, during, and after Trump’s first term.
Prior to Trump, the VA had some serious personnel problems — but not from under-staffing. The problem was with attitudes. While I never encountered such problems with the health-care professionals, I certainly did with the administrative and support staff. Too many of them were clearly of the attitude that we veterans existed for them — rather than vice-versa. That they were doing us a favor by deigning to provide whatever level of service they felt like blessing us with on any given day.
The problem was that in was virtually impossible to fire a VA employee for anything, let alone lousy service to vets. That changed in Trump’s first term. Congress changed the law, and a number of VA employees were fired.
“President Donald J. Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 after a series of scandals during the Obama Administration. The law gave the VA new authority to dismiss employees for poor performance or misconduct quickly.”
“President Trump … implemented reforms and accountability measures to the VA that put veterans first, firing close to 9,000 staff members who had long records of negligence that resulted in improper treatment and harm to veterans. During [Trump’s] administration, VA approval ratings soared to 90%.
The Biden administration reversed those firings.
“Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) released the results of its investigation into the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reinstating employees fired by the Trump Administration for mistreating American veterans. Of the 4,000 disgraced former VA employees terminated, the Biden-Harris Administration has already offered reinstatement and paid over $134 million in back pay to more than 1,700 individuals.”
So to suggest, as Mr. Duncan does, that “I never imagined that our elected officials would decimate our VA! Have they no shame?” reflects either ignorance, or misunderstanding, of recent history.
Another thing Mr. Duncan fails to mention is that “mission critical” employees are not only exempt from the layoffs, but that the VA is “ continues to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions that are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.”
“VA positions considered mission critical include Veterans Crisis Line responders, among other roles. VA positions considered non-mission critical include DEI-related positions, among other roles.” https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1400-probationary-employees/
During the Biden administration, DEI infested the VA like a virus.
Until Biden, I was never asked about my sexual orientation during VA visits. Under Biden that appeared on nearly every form, and was a routine question from VA employees – many of whom were clearly uncomfortable asking, but were mandated to do so.
There was a sign between the Women’s and Men’s bathrooms at the VA clinic I frequent, advising that we could use any bathroom for the gender with which we “identified”. Mrs Beatty, who is also a disability-rated vet, took particular exception to that sign -—and I doubt any male who entered the women’s bathroom when she was in there would have had a pleasant experience. So before you get all riled up by Mr. Duncan’s lament, take the time to understand what is actually going on.
I’ll also let you in on a little secret most vets are reluctant to talk about publicly — but will admit privately. There are some vets who conflate benefits they earned with a sense of entitlement. They believe the government owes them a living simply because of their service — and are intent on suckling as much from the government teat as possible.
The government is hopelessly in debt. Unless spending is reduced — which involves budget and staff cuts — there may not be any VA, or any other government benefits, for anyone.
That means we must all accept some reductions in services from the government, or face national fiscal collapse. “At that point, the only way the federal government will be able to continue to function will be … wait for it … borrow even more (if it can find a lender) which will trigger more (possibly hyper) inflation. The only alternative to what very well be hyperinflation is default (declare bankruptcy) and start afresh!”
There are two types of bankruptcy. In one, an entity is dissolved and all its assets are sold then allocated among creditors. In the other, the entity continues to exist through reorganization, reallocation of resources, and cost-cutting.
The reorganization method is what Trump’s DOGE is seeking to accomplish, “VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors as possible.”
As a recipient of services of the VA, I understand what is necessary to preserve it — and am willing to accept that to correct the fiscal problems created by the prior administration, changes will have to be made.
Mr Duncan needs to accept that reality as well.