Who’s Fighting Back (and not) Against Trump’s Cuts in VA Jobs and Services
By Steve Early and Rebecca Gordon
March 7, 2025
Among the Republican voters experiencing buyer’s remorse are more than a few military veterans who chose Trump over Harris by a margin of 65 to 34%, according to some exit polls.
Their shock and dismay surfaced in DC this month during the legislative conference of the reliably conservative and hawkish Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), which has 1.4 million members.
In the run-up to that annual event, VFW national commander Al Lipphardt, urged his members to and “engage with lawmakers” to “stop the bleeding” at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Thanks to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) , the VA now faces disruption of its , healthcare delivery, data security, and stable employment for 100,000 former service members.
The VFW’s resulting Capitol Hill visit on March 4 was not exactly the second coming of the militant march on Washington, in 1932, by 30,000 jobless World War 1 vets. During that confrontation, leaders of the VFW and American Legion provided political cover for Herbert Hoover, the conservative Republican president who ignored veteran unemployment (and, like Trump, championed small government).
But the VFW’s condemnation of Trump’s mass firing of vets is definitely a break with more recent Veteran Service Organization (VSO) subservience to the White House. Iraq war vet and VFW life member Kris Goldsmith calls it “historic” and “nothing short of extraordinary.”
Bleeding Gets Worse, Not Better
Nevertheless, as Goldsmith argues, it will take a lot more than issuing press statements, presenting hearing testimony, and politely lobbying legislators to stop the further “bleeding” that will result from a VA “reorganization” first reported March 5.
According to an internal memo, Trump’s new VA Secretary Doug Collins intends to cut 80,000 more jobs—contrary to his confirmation hearing testimony before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) on Jan. 21.
On that occasion, the ex-Congressman from Georgia assured his former Capitol Hill colleagues that “we’re not going to sacrifice veterans’ benefits to do a budget.” This helped the right-wing Air Force Reserve chaplain get confirmed, with virtually no SVAC opposition, and by a 77 to 23 Senate vote in his favor.
Despite the leaked document from VA headquarters, President Trump insists that he will still “take good care of our veterans” and wants to keep the total number losing their federal jobs “as small as possible.” Meanwhile, he boasted of “having great success at slimming down our government,” which was a major focus of his State of the Union address.
During that 100-minute rant and ramble, Trump didn’t mention veterans or Collins even once, despite his various shout-outs to cops, fire-fighters, border patrol officers, and other cabinet members.
As part of the Democrats’ response to what Senator Tim Kaine calls a “war on veterans,” Kane and others in Trump’s audience brought along guests who served in the military. All were just fired by the VA and other federal agencies, where vets comprise about 30% of the workforce.
When one dismissed Forest Service worker, Iraq war vet Jacob Bushno, approached his Congressman back home for help—he got no response from Mike Bost, the Republican chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Instead, Bushno heard from the office of Senator Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois Democrat and former Army helicopter pilot who became a double amputee when she was shot down in Iraq.
Noting that Republicans like Bost always wrap themselves in the flag, Bushno told The Times that “he hadn’t seen any patriotism out of them since this has been going down.”
“Why Is This Happening to Us?”
This emerging rift between right-wing Republicans and one part of their electoral base can be further deepened through more grassroots activism by veterans and…
[READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE]