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\n

As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk lay waste to scores of federal programs and the careers of thousands of government workers, Republicans on Capitol Hill have mostly kept their objections to themselves \u2014 with one big exception.<\/p>\n

Military veterans have been disproportionately affected by the administration\u2019s early cuts, and GOP lawmakers have unleashed a rare tide of public pushback. That reached a crescendo this week as the Trump administration raises the possibility of large-scale dismissals of Veterans Administration employees.<\/p>\n

Mass firings at the VA began weeks ago, spurring a flurry of panicked calls<\/a> from GOP lawmakers to the White House. But a new memo outlines the potential for 80,000 more firings across a roughly 480,000-person department, according to an internal memo obtained by Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Chair Jerry Moran<\/a> (R-Kan.) said in a statement that while the massive department is \u201cin need of reform,\u201d efforts to downsize \u201cmust be done in a more responsible manner,\u201d after the AP first reported<\/a> the 80,000 figure Wednesday. Moran, who has been in close contact with VA Secretary Doug Collins and White House staff about personnel issues for weeks, added in an interview Thursday that lawmakers \u201cneed information\u201d and that the numbers need to be \u201cjustifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaving a lunch meeting with Musk Wednesday where the VA cuts came up, Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> (R-S.C.) voiced his irritation to reporters and suggested Trump\u2019s veterans chief needed to get a better handle on his department.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s political malpractice not to consult Congress if that’s what you intend to do,\u201d Graham said. \u201cMaybe you’ve got a good reason to do it. I like Doug Collins \u2014 he’s a great guy. But we don’t need to be reading memos in the paper about 20 percent cut at the VA.”<\/p>\n

Even before the VA memo became public, there was heartburn about how the cuts undertaken by Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency initiative might impact the country\u2019s roughly 18 million veterans.<\/p>\n

Federal job cuts generally affect veterans more profoundly, since they are given preference in government hiring. The provision of health care and other services is directly threatened by cuts to the VA, and those impacts have been a frequent concern at the spate of town hall protests<\/a> GOP lawmakers have encountered in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

There are signs the message has gotten through. Senate Majority Leader John Thune<\/a> said Thursday that senators raised the issue of VA cuts directly with Musk during the lunch meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m hoping there will be some clarification on that issue soon,” Thune told a small group of reporters.<\/p>\n

$\"Senate$ <\/p>\n

Sen. John Barrasso<\/a>, Thune\u2019s No. 2, said that while they didn\u2019t get confirmation of the VA cuts, Republicans stressed to Musk that Collins needs to be involved, with \u201cthe concern being that we want to make sure that veterans get the care that they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins<\/a>, who has recently been in contact with Musk, said she\u2019s also coordinating with Moran as he tries to get answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an obligation to our veterans, and these mass firings undermine that obligation,\u201d Collins told reporters.<\/p>\n

Democrats, who have been searching for a political foothold as they try to fight back against DOGE, blasted the proposed VA cuts. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> called it \u201ca betrayal of our promise to our service members\u201d that will spark \u201clonger wait times, fewer appointments, less health care service for our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the Capitol, the more DOGE-friendly House GOP is more willing to give the administration leeway on efforts to slash the size of the federal workforce. But even GOP leaders who are normally quick to praise Musk\u2019s slash-and-burn operation are sensitive about the VA and impacts on veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to talk to the secretary to see what their needs are,\u201d said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise <\/a>(R-La.). \u201cYou had, in a lot of these departments, a large increase during COVID, some of which may have been needed but a lot of which wasn’t justified.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you need to sort through what actually helps the veterans versus what actually takes money away from veterans benefits,\u201d Scalise added.<\/p>\n

House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul<\/a> said in an interview Thursday he needed to study the VA cuts in more detail. But he had a visceral reaction when informed of the level of workforce cuts in the memo.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeez,\u201d McCaul said, his eyes widening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry because our veterans are hurting after Afghanistan; PTSD has gone way up,\u201d McCaul added. \u201cSuicide rates gone way up, and morale has gone way down. So I worry in the sense that I don’t want that to be a signal that we don’t care about our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some House Republicans, including some with a high number of veterans in their districts who get their care from the VA, offered measured support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI trust the president,\u201d said Rep. Brian Babin<\/a> (R-Texas), adding \u201cthere are a lot of complaints\u201d about the VA. Rep. Austin Scott<\/a> (R-Ga.) added that he had faith in Collins to make cuts that “create efficiencies and actually improve care” at VA.<\/p>\n

But Rep. Rob Wittman<\/a> (R-Va.) \u2014 a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee whose state includes large numbers of federal workers and veterans \u2014 warned the job cuts would have real impacts on his constituents.<\/p>\n

“I think everybody looks at it and says, ‘Let’s get the federal government to the right size that’s sustainable.’ Companies do that all the time,” Wittman said. “But I also want to be mindful that these employees are really good people. They work hard, and I want to make sure we keep in mind the impact that it has on them.”<\/p>\n

Ben Leonard, Connor O\u2019Brien and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk lay waste to scores of federal programs and the careers of thousands of government workers, Republicans on Capitol Hill have mostly kept their objections to themselves \u2014 with one big exception. Military veterans have been disproportionately affected by the administration\u2019s early cuts, and GOP lawmakers have unleashed a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}