{"id":1055607,"date":"2025-08-13T18:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T22:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1055607"},"modified":"2025-08-13T18:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T22:06:10","slug":"trumps-mass-firings-leave-veterans-stranded-as-the-va-faces-major-staffing-shortages-across-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-mass-firings-leave-veterans-stranded-as-the-va-faces-major-staffing-shortages-across-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Mass Firings Leave Veterans Stranded as the VA Faces Major Staffing Shortages Across the Country\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"341\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1038290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png 1500w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?resize=300,100 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?resize=768,256 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?resize=1024,341 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Donald Trump\u2019s reckless slash-and-burn campaign through the federal government is jeopardizing veterans\u2019 health care and leaving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2025\/08\/12\/va-veterans-affairs-shortages-cuts-trump\/\">all 139<\/a> VA medical centers severely short-staffed. At every turn, Trump hasn\u2019t hesitated to throw our servicemembers under the bus to serve his political agenda. Given Trump\u2019s history of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2020\/09\/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers\/615997\/\">demeaning<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2015\/07\/trump-attacks-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured-120317\">insulting<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/donald-trump-father-fallen-soldier-ive-made-lot\/story?id=41015051\">attacking<\/a> those who put their lives on the line for this country, is anyone surprised Trump doesn\u2019t give a rat\u2019s ass about veterans\u2019 health care?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In response to Trump\u2019s dangerous cuts to the VA, <\/em><strong><em>DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement<\/em><\/strong><em>:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s administration has been nothing but one broadside after another against America\u2019s veterans. Now, Trump is going after their health care with his reckless campaign of mass firings. In a slap in the face to the over nine million vets who rely on the VA, Trump has saddled every single VA medical center in the country with drastic staffing shortages and jeopardized millions of veterans\u2019 access to critical medical care. Trump and the GOP have proven once again they don\u2019t give a damn about America\u2019s most important promises to the men and women who served.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Donald Trump has made it clear he views American servicemembers as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2020\/09\/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers\/615997\/\">\u201csuckers\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2020\/09\/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers\/615997\/\">\u201closers\u201d<\/a> \u2014 dismissing their sacrifices. Even before he entered politics, Trump worked to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/trump-fires-veterans-military-service_n_57509590e4b0c3752dcd08cf?section=politics\">discriminate<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/donald-trump-university-veterans_n_574eff95e4b0c3752dcc1505?csq69a4i=\">against<\/a> veterans and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/donald-trump-wanted-vets-kicked-off-fifth-avenue\/\">pushed<\/a> to ban disabled veterans from operating stands outside his 5th Avenue building.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump\u2019s attack on the VA isn\u2019t new. This term alone, Trump has:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Announced his plan to cut <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2025\/07\/07\/veterans-affairs-layoffs-doge-cuts\/\">30,000<\/a> VA staff<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-02-20\/trump-hiring-freeze-spurs-hundreds-of-cuts-in-va-health-research?embedded-checkout=true\">Risked<\/a> VA funding dedicated to advancing treatments for cancer, drug withdrawal, and more<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc15.com\/news\/local-news\/veteran-crisis-hotline-may-be-impacted-by-federal-layoffs\">Gutted<\/a> the VA crisis hotline, stranding veterans in need during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3326969\/va-layoffs-concerns-veterans-care\/\">life-or-death<\/a> situations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/us\/politics\/veterans-affairs-mental-health-privacy.html\">Jeopardized<\/a> veterans\u2019 medical care by throwing the VA into chaos with incompetent leadership\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/may\/23\/veterans-affairs-doge-musk\">Closed<\/a> units at VA medical centers during his campaign of mass firings and funding cuts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Veterans have made it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgun9.com\/news\/community-inspired-journalism\/southside-news\/veterans-supporters-protest-doge-in-front-of-tucson-va-hospital\">crystal<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbs8.com\/article\/news\/local\/san-diego-veterans-protest-proposed-cuts-to-va-workforce\/509-0f764695-900b-42bc-83b5-eb9a715dbdde\">clear<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/2025\/03\/15\/dozens-gather-in-highland-to-protest-veterans-affairs-cuts-our-vets-deserve-better\/\">that<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/03\/14\/veterans-others-protest-trump-administration-at-florida-capitol\/82402914007\/\">they<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbf.com\/article\/florida-group-marches-mar-a-lago-protest-president-trump-doge\/64191718\">don\u2019t<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/wgme.com\/news\/local\/i-want-to-be-heard-veterans-march-at-capitol-protesting-federal-cuts-maine-augusta-state-house-president-donald-trump-republicans-democrats-doge-elon-musk\">support<\/a> Trump and his reckless agenda. It\u2019s about time Trump starts listening to our veterans and doing right by them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump\u2019s reckless slash-and-burn campaign through the federal government is jeopardizing veterans\u2019 health care and leaving all 139 VA medical centers severely short-staffed. At every turn, Trump hasn\u2019t hesitated to throw our servicemembers under the bus to serve his political agenda. Given Trump\u2019s history of demeaning, insulting, and attacking those who put their lives on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s Mass Firings Leave Veterans Stranded as the VA Faces Major Staffing Shortages Across the Country\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-mass-firings-leave-veterans-stranded-as-the-va-faces-major-staffing-shortages-across-the-country\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-13T22:06:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-13T22:06:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shelby Reese\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-mass-firings-leave-veterans-stranded-as-the-va-faces-major-staffing-shortages-across-the-country\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/trumps-mass-firings-leave-veterans-stranded-as-the-va-faces-major-staffing-shortages-across-the-country\/\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s Mass Firings Leave Veterans Stranded as the VA Faces Major Staffing Shortages Across the Country\u00a0 - 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