Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has a message for veterans: change is coming to the VA, "so get used to it."
In a video shared on his X account and emailed to veterans Wednesday, Collins said he intends to lay off more than 70,000 people — many thousands of veterans among them.
"Right now, VA's biggest problem is that its bureaucracy and inefficiencies are getting in the way of customer convenience and service to veterans," Collins said.
The VA says at least 25% of its 470,000 employees are veterans. That suggests about 20,000 veterans could find themselves booted from the federal payroll.
The layoffs come after a VA hiring boom.
When President Joe Biden signed the 2022 PACT Act it was hailed as the largest expansion of VA benefits in a generation, opening eligibility to millions more veterans affected by exposure to toxins during their service.
Frank Pearson is the director of the VA San Diego Medical Center. He told KPBS last year VA San Diego grew due to the PACT Act.
"VA San Diego actually has the greatest growth rate in all the southwest," Pearson told KPBS in a November interview. "We've seen tremendous growth in our volume to the tune of about four (hundred) to 500 veterans every single month."
That growth equated to about 400 new jobs at VA San Diego since 2022, a VA San Diego spokesperson said at the time.
It's unclear how the changes have or will affect staffing in San Diego. VA San Diego did not respond to several staffing and patient care-related questions sent Monday.
The cuts are part of the larger restructuring of the federal government under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Officials insist Musk is not in charge of DOGE, but during Trump's State of the Union Address Tuesday, the president told Congress that Musk is the head of DOGE.
Alina Habba, who serves as counselor to Trump, acknowledged from the White House Tuesday that many veterans who work for the government could soon find themselves without jobs.
"We have a fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars to pay people that actually work," Habba told reporters. "That doesn't mean that we forget our veterans by any means. We are going to care for them in the right way but perhaps they're not fit to have a job at this moment, or they're not willing to come to work."
Collins was just as blunt in his video address to veterans.
"It's extraordinarily difficult for me, especially as a VA leader and your secretary, to make these types of (layoff) decisions," Collins said. "But the federal government does not exist to employ people — it exists to serve people."
One VA San Diego psychologist told KPBS the specter of layoffs has VA patients anxious and VA staffers feeling betrayed.
"It’s been really difficult watching leadership trying to make sense of these executive orders, emails and structural changes with very little information and presenting it to staff who are very concerned about their jobs," the psychologist said.
They asked KPBS not use their name because they're not authorized to talk to the media.
"As a whole, a lot of our veterans are expressing concerns about access to (VA) resources," they said. "The people we serve feel worried and uncomfortable."
About 200,000 veterans live in San Diego County and about 150,000 of them are enrolled in healthcare with VA San Diego.
In his video, VA Secretary Doug Collins blames staffing bloat and bureaucracy for any of the departments past failures. He tells veterans there's more to come.
"We'll be making major changes — so get used to it," Collins said.
