Senator Angus King and a group of bipartisan lawmakers have asked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for details on its proposal to reduce its workforce by 10,000 employees in Fiscal Year 2025 due to a budget shortfall.
King said the agency must meet the requirements of the PACT Act, which expands benefits and healthcare to veterans exposed to toxic chemicals, and any job cuts will have a negative impact on veterans' healthcare.
"The VA has been staffing up to meet that demand as far as applications and the entire portion of meeting this new responsibility. At the same time this year's budget talks about reducing staff by 10,000 and what's disturbing about it is there's no detail as to where it is," King said.
VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement that last year the agency brought in more than 61,000 external employees, most front-line clinicians and staff, and held night and weekend clinics to expand access and reduce wait times.
And in a recent exchange between King and USVA Secretary Denis McDonough, McDonough said that the agency will manage the reduction through attrition.
King said that he is not satisfied with that explanation, and he and a group of bipartisan lawmakers in a letter this week asked Senate Appropriations leaders to require the VA to provide details on where the attrition will occur and assurances that staff reductions will not affect services.
Hayes said the VA appreciates the oversight from Congress and will respond directly to their letter.
The VA said there are more than 1800 full-time employees in the VA Maine Healthcare System and its budget is more than 600 million dollars.
Maine is home to more than 100,000 veterans.
