The Edward P. Boland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, home of the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System. FILE PHOTO By COLIN A. YOUNG
State House News Service Published: 03-03-2025 12:02 PM facebook
United States
federal government
The Trump administration’s ongoing push to trim back the federal workforce and spending is continuing to raise angst, with recent rounds of cuts drawing the ire of a leading local veterans organization and the New England Aquarium.
Veterans and advocates from the Massachusetts chapter of Veterans of Foreign Wars are heading to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with the state’s congressional delegation. The group said it wants to hear from Bay State veterans and their families so they can provide lawmakers with evidence of the impacts they say recent Department of Veterans Affairs firings are having on people who served in the country’s military.
The VFW said it has concerns about continuity of care, efficiency in processing benefits and the overall morale of veterans given cuts made at the VA, including facilities in Massachusetts. The group said its members worry “that the sudden staffing changes could lead to longer waiting times for services, disruptions in medical treatment, and delays in disability and pension claims,” all longstanding issues that veterans’ groups and the VA have been working to address.
“Our veterans have sacrificed so much for this country, and they deserve a VA system that is stable, reliable, and fully staffed with experienced professionals,” Jody Freitas, Massachusetts VFW state commander, said. “Sudden firings without clear explanations or transition plans risk undoing years of progress.”
The cuts are part of an effort led by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, and the new U.S. Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the federal workforce and bureaucracy, and to align federal spending with President Donald Trump’s political agenda.In mid-February, the VA announced that it had dismissed more than 1,000 employees to save about $98 million annually that it said could be directed back towards veteran care. At the end of the month, the VA announced that another 1,400 employees were dismissed to […]
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