Trump’s veterans affairs chief defends ‘extraordinarily difficult’ plans to cut 80,000 staff – US politics live
VA secretary defends ‘extraordinarily difficult’ layoff plans
Veterans affairs secretary Doug Collins confirmed plans to reduce staff by about 15%, or about 80,000 people, and argued the cuts were necessary to make the department more efficient.
“We regret anyone who loses their job, and it’s extraordinarily difficult for me, especially as a VA leader and your secretary, to make these types of decisions. But the federal government does not exist to employ people. It exists to serve people,” Collins said.
“At the VA, we are focused on serving veterans better than ever before, and doing so requires changing and improving the organization.”
Collins promised the staffing reductions would be achieved “without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries. VA will always fulfill its duty to provide veterans, families, caregivers and survivors the health care and benefits they have earned. That’s a promise.”
He added: “VA will continue to hire for more than 300,000 mission critical positions to ensure healthcare and benefits for VA beneficiaries are not impacted.”
The cuts come amid a broader push by the White House to reduce staffing across the federal government. Here’s the latest on that:
Key events
Senate Democrats introduce resolutions calling on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine
Senate Democrats are currently on the Senate floor introducing resolutions condemning Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, and daring Republicans to object.
A resolution from Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, calling on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to withdraw Russian forces from Ukraine was objected to by Republican Senator James Risch.
As Igor Bobic of HuffPost reported, Risch claimed that Putin “does not have the ability to end this war” without the agreement of Ukraine, the US and its European allies.
“Who do you think stated the war?” Sanders replied. “He can do it.”
The same Republican also objected to a resolution from Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who asked for unanimous consent on a resolution condemning the kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russia.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen then introduced a resolution stating that Russia had committed war crimes in Ukraine. That resolution was objected to by Republican Senator Roger Wicker.
Wicker then also objected to a resolution affirming Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty introduced by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. Wicker’s objection was breifly interrupted by the ringing of his mobile phone.
Democratic Senator Michael Bennet is currently on the floor, loudly complaining about the US cutting off intelligence sharing with Ukraine. “Ronald Reagan is turning over in his grave”, Bennet said, over a US national security strategy apparently concoted on social media.
The Trump administration is reportedly rethinking the Guantánamo immigrant detention plan the president announced with great fanfare, sources tell NBC News.
NBC reports:
President Donald Trump’s plan to use the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to detain 30,000 immigrants has been hitting major legal, logistical and financial hurdles ever since he surprised many in his own administration by announcing it. Now, as agencies spar over responsibility for operations there and over blame for what has gone wrong, there is a growing recognition within the administration that it was a political decision that is just not working.
Among the major issues, especially as the Trump administration works to slash spending throughout the government, is the cost. Taking detained immigrants to Guantánamo means flying them there, and the administration has sometimes chosen to use military planes that are expensive to operate.
The two defense officials and a congressional official told the news outlet that, because Trump still wants the plan to move forward, a scaled-down version of the effort is likely to proceed, despite the expense and other difficulties.
Trump meets freed Israeli hostages and threatens Hamas on social media
After Donald Trump met with eight freed Israeli hostages in the Oval Office on Wednesday, he delivered an ultimatum to Hamas on multiple social media platforms, threatening the Palestinian militant group with annihilation if it does not immediately release all of the remaining captives held in Gaza.
On Instagram, the message was accompanied by Trump’s scowling official portrait, and the words “This is your last warning!” highlighted in red.
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The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a statement that “President Trump took time to meet with eight of the released hostages from Gaza. The President listened intently to their heartbreaking stories. The hostages thanked President Trump for his steadfast efforts to bring all of the hostages home.”
The delegation included: Doron Steinbrecher, Eli Sharabi, Naama Levy, Iair Horn, Omer Shem Tov, Keith Siegel, Aviva Siegel and Noa Argamani.
The White House also posted images of the meeting on X, which show that Trump appears to remained seated as the freed hostages came to his desk to shake hands with him and pose for photographs next to a large illustration of the Gulf of Mexico emblazoned with the words “Gulf of America”.
The largest federal employee union has denounced the Trump administration’s plan to cut over 80,000 employees from the veterans affairs department.
Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), issued a blistering response to the planned cuts, which were confirmed earlier today by the Veterans affairs secretary, Doug Collins.
Kelley drew attention to the impact the reduction in staffing would have on the large share of staff who are veterans, and in making it harder to implement the PACT Act, a 2022 law that expanded VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.
“Firing more than 80,000 workers, a third of whom are veteran themselves, will destroy the VA’s ability fulfill the PACT Act’s promises to veterans who either died or became ill as a result of exposure to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. Most of these employees were hired explicitly to provide the benefits provided for in the PACT Act.
“The VA has been severely understaffed for many years, resulting in longer wait times for veterans in need. The DOGE plunder of career VA employees, adding to the illegal mass firings of thousands of probationary employees, can only make matter worse. Veterans and their families will suffer unnecessarily, and the will of Congress will be ignored.“Until Elon Musk and Donald Trump came on the scene, America never turned its back on our veterans and their families. Their reckless plan to wipe out the VA’s ability to deliver on America’s promise to veterans will backfire on millions of veterans and their families who risked their lives in service for our country.
“On behalf of the 311,000 VA employees AFGE represents, I call on Congress to intervene in these un-American tactics and put a stop to Elon Musk’s DOGE rampage through America’s most cherished agencies in a blatant attempt to justify privatizing government services.”
The Anti-Defamation League has condemned a past social media post by Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson in a statement to the Guardian.
As our colleague Lauren Gamino reports, Wilson’s post on X last August denied the innocence of Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman whom most historians agree was wrongfully convicted of killing a 13-year-old factory worker and lynched in 1915 during a wave of antisemitism in the US.
“Leo Frank raped & murdered a 13-year-old girl. He also tried to frame a Black man for his crime,” Wilson wrote on X in response to a post by the ADL marking the 109th anniversary of Frank’s lynching. “The ADL turned off the comments because they want to gaslight you.”
Read Lauren’s report on the comment and the ADL’s response:
Who is Adam Boehler, the US official negotiating with Hamas to free a young Israeli-American captive still being held in Gaza?
Boehler, a health care executive who has been nominated but not yet confirmed as Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, is not a career diplomat but a former college roommate of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. Boehler worked with Kushner on the Abraham Accords, to normalize relations between Israel and four nations: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
As chief executive of the US International Development Finance Corporation during the first Trump administration, Boehler was part of Kushner’s largely unsuccessful effort to ramp up the nation’s ability to manufacture supplies needed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although any particular qualifications he brings to the task of engaging in direct talks with Hamas remain unclear, his social media activity makes it plain that he is a strong supporter of Israel. On Sunday, he reposted a message from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on X that read: “The war in Gaza ends today if Hamas surrenders and frees all 59 hostages.”
The same day he shared another message from the financier Joe Lonsdale that praised Israel’s military intervention in Syria which read, in part: “UN is a joke and EU lacks any moral clarity; there are few bold forces left in the world willing and able to stand against rampaging Islamists, and their rape and slaughter.”
The US citizen Boehler is trying to free is Edan Alexander, 21, who graduated from high school in New Jersey before moving to Israel. Alexander was serving in the Israel Defense Forces near Gaza when Hamas took him captive on October 7.
Speaking to CNN two weeks ago, Boehler said that his advice to Hamas would be to release Alexander, and the bodies of four other American captives believed to be dead, or “face total annihilation”.
VA secretary defends ‘extraordinarily difficult’ layoff plans
Veterans affairs secretary Doug Collins confirmed plans to reduce staff by about 15%, or about 80,000 people, and argued the cuts were necessary to make the department more efficient.
“We regret anyone who loses their job, and it’s extraordinarily difficult for me, especially as a VA leader and your secretary, to make these types of decisions. But the federal government does not exist to employ people. It exists to serve people,” Collins said.
“At the VA, we are focused on serving veterans better than ever before, and doing so requires changing and improving the organization.”
Collins promised the staffing reductions would be achieved “without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries. VA will always fulfill its duty to provide veterans, families, caregivers and survivors the health care and benefits they have earned. That’s a promise.”
He added: “VA will continue to hire for more than 300,000 mission critical positions to ensure healthcare and benefits for VA beneficiaries are not impacted.”
The cuts come amid a broader push by the White House to reduce staffing across the federal government. Here’s the latest on that:
Democrats are outraged at reports that the Trump administration wants to cut staffing at the department of veterans affairs by about 80,000 employees.
New York congressman Pat Ryan, one of the party’s more vulnerable lawmakers, said:
I don’t ever want to hear “thank you for your service” from that draft-dodging coward again. We already lost 20 inpatient beds for mental health and detox at my local VA. The real-world impacts of this on our nation’s heroes cannot be understated.
The sentiment was echoed by independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, a leading progressive:
Trump wants to fire 83k VA workers, many of whom are veterans themselves, decimating the VA & making it harder for veterans to get health care & benefits. When Americans put their lives on the line to defend our country, we must keep our commitments to them — not betray them.
Georgia senator Jon Ossoff, who is expected to face a tough re-election battle next year, said:
The Administration must immediately and publicly withdraw any proposal to gut the VA and imperil veterans’ care and benefits.
Already, the chaos, incompetence, and disruption are unacceptable.
Veterans earned their benefits through selfless service. It’s a contract, not a gift.
Trump administration plans to cut 80,000 employees from veterans affairs department
The Trump administration wants to cut as many as 80,000 employees from the department of veterans affairs, with an eye towards undoing an expansion in its healthcare services that was implemented by Joe Biden, the Associated Press reports.
Citing an internal memo, the AP reports that the VA’s chief of staff Christopher Syrek wants to lower staffing at the sprawling agency tasked with the care of US military veterans to less than 400,000 employees, its staffing level in 2019. He also instructed employees to collaborate with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, which has been accused of taking a haphazard and illegal approach to reducing government spending.
Here’s more on the potential changes, from the AP:
That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act.
The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.” It also calls for agency officials to work with the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals. Government Executive first reported on the internal memo.
Veterans have already been speaking out against the cuts at the VA that so far had included a few thousand employees and hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of the VA’s workforce is comprised of veterans.
The plans underway at the VA showed how the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is not holding back on an all-out effort to slash federal agencies, even for those that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support. Michael Missal, who was the VA’s inspector general for nine years until he was fired last month as part of Trump’s sweeping dismissal of independent oversight officials at government agencies, told the AP that the VA is already suffering from a lack of “expertise” as top-level officials either leave or are shuffled around under the president’s plans.
Macron warns Europe to be ‘ready’ for US not to stand by its side
The shock waves from Donald Trump’s tense meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and decision to suspend aid to Ukraine continue to be felt in Europe, where French the president, Emmanuel Macron, has warned his country to be “ready” for the United States to no longer stand by its side.
“We are entering a new era,” Macron said in a recorded address in which he also insisted that Russia will remain a threat to France and Europe as a whole.
We have live blog covering all the latest news from the continent across the Atlantic, and you can read it here:
White House confirms that US is negotiating directly with Hamas
Faisal Ali
The White House press secretary has confirmed a report that the US is in direct negotiations with Hamas for the first time since the group was formed, despite it being a designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
Earlier today Axios reported that Adam Boehler, a special envoy for hostages held in Gaza, had been engaging Hamas officials in Doha, without mediation.
Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, confirmed the report and said that Boehler had the authority to talk to anyone “to do what’s in the best interest of the American people”, though US officials frequently say they don’t negotiate with terrorists.
Leavitt didn’t say what the US officials were discussing with Hamas but said that Israel had been informed prior to talks taking place.
State department officials pen dissent cable urging Rubio to save USAid – report
Hundreds of state department employees have signed a dissent cable urging top diplomat Marco Rubio to stop the dismantling of USAid, the Bulwark reports.
“We dissent not out of opposition to the administration, but because we have dedicated our lives to making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” read the message, which was signed by more than 700 foreign services officers, state department officials as well as employees of the hobbled aid agency.
“The current trajectory endangers American lives, weakens our global standing, cedes influence to authoritarian competitors, and undermines our economic dominance. We urge a course correction before irreparable damage is done to US leadership, security, and moral authority in the world.”
Rubio has supported Donald Trump’s efforts to destroy the longstanding organization tasked with implementing Washington’s foreign aid agenda. Earlier today, the supreme court upheld a federal judge’s ruling ordering USAid to pay bills totaling $1.5b to its partners.
