DOGE cuts 2,400 VA jobs, Illinois veterans lose access to services

(WAND) — Amid a surge of Department of Veterans Affairs layoffs across the country, the organization VoteVets held a national hall to discuss the negative effects that federal downsizing by the Department of Government Efficiency have imposed on United States veterans.

U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War Army National Guard combat veteran, said that the layoffs will have a widespread and lasting effect.

"Trump and Musk have slashed roughly 2400 Department of Veterans Affairs jobs, a decision that won't make things more efficient like they claim, but will actually lead to longer wait times, more backlog and more chaos for our veterans. They've also launched a wider purge of federal workers firing. In total, an estimated 6000 veterans who are federal workers, including the folks behind the Veterans Crisis Hotline," said Duckworth.

With the layoffs, there are already reported shortages in access to resources given to veterans.

"Health care appointments have already been canceled due to staffing shortages. The number of beds and operating rooms at VA facilities have already been cut down, and suicide prevention training sessions have been postponed or canceled already," said Duckworth. "These jobs should never have been threatened in the first place."

The senator explained that with these cuts to benefits, she foresees dire consequences. "The crisis hotline is where veterans turn when they are considering suicide or self-harm. The public servants working there are doing some of the toughest work imaginable to support our heroes in their absolute darkest hour. These are the people that Trump and Musk are happy to throw by the wayside."

Dustin Conklin is a United States Navy Veteran, who moved to Illinois for a job with the Natural Resources Conservation Service for the USDA. He said he moved hundreds of miles away from his family and support system for his new job. On Feb. 13, he received an email with a notice of "Accepted Service Termination during Probationary Period." The email explained that he had been fired due to performance, even though he had not been in his new position long enough to receive a performance evaluation.

Now, Conklin is at risk for losing his health insurance, which covers both him and his daughter. "My health insurance is pretty important to me because I have regular therapy appointments. I access antidepressants and anxiety medication, that I'm about to lose," Conklin explained.

Coast Guard Veteran Frances Greenlee had a similar experience to Conklin. Once she got out of the Coast Guard, she was hired for the General Service Administration's Federal Acquisition Service to help prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of federal dollars.

She also received a notice of termination based of performance. "My supervisors didn't know I was terminated. I forwarded them the termination letter. I hadn't been at this job long enough to do to have a performance evaluation," Greenley said.

Kyle Lewis is a US Navy Veteran; after his time in uniform, he became a counterterrorism analyst with the US government. He was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2020, and he was given six weeks to live unless he started treatment.

"My doctor said, if you don't start this experimental and aggressive treatment now, you're not going to be here much longer. And I was fortunate to get into a clinical trial at Johns Hopkins, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health. I say 'was funded' because it's not anymore. The cuts that DOGE has is made to cancer research -- as well as other lifesaving medical research -- has put my cancer treatment at risk," Lewis said.

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown explained that these federal cuts would continue to be felt country-wide in the form of shortages and decreased access to services. "If you spread that impact all across this country and blue states and red states, we're going to see veterans whose lives are upended because of these cuts."

Duckworth said she was committed to helping the nation's veterans, including by continuing to try to reinstate veterans to their positions. After the first VA layoffs fired workers within the Veterans Crisis Line, Duckworth pushed the Trump administration to reinstate those who had been fired. "Trump might like to wrap himself in the flag with one hand, but with the other, he's signing off on the orders that sell out our heroes to line his own pockets," Duckworth stated.

"It'd be easy to feel defeated, to want to tune out, rather to turn on the news. But now more than ever, we can't let ourselves become disengaged. We have to channel our outrage into action because there's too much at stake to get discouraged," said Duckworth.

VoteVets has a tip line on their website for veterans and military families who have been affected by the federal cuts.