WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is set to cut up to 35,000 health-care positions this month, primarily affecting unfilled roles such as doctors, nurses, and support staff. The reductions are part of an effort to streamline the department’s workforce, potentially lowering the total number of health-care employees to around 372,000, a roughly 10% decrease from last year.
Officials emphasized that the cuts target mostly vacant positions, many of which were created during the COVID-19 pandemic and are no longer considered necessary. Veterans Affairs spokespersons stated that these reductions will not impact operations or the delivery of care to veterans. This move follows earlier workforce reductions in July, when the agency cut about 30,000 positions, representing a smaller portion of its initially planned fiscal-year reductions.