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Here’s how VA envisioned cutting 83,000 employees before scrapping its plans

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is walking away from plans to cut 83,000 employees through “department-wide” layoffs.

Documents and data obtained by Federal News Network, however, show how department officials planned to reach their workforce reduction goals, before scrapping the proposal.

VA’s former workforce reduction plan considered cutting 20,000 clinical staff from the Veterans Health Administration, including nurses and other frontline medical staff.

In recent months, VA Secretary Doug Collins repeatedly told lawmakers during committee hearings that personnel cuts would have no impact on the department’s delivery of health care and benefits to veterans.

“We’re going to maintain VA’s mission-essential jobs, like doctors, nurses, claims processors, while phasing out nonessential roles, like interior designers and other things — DEI,” Collins told the Senate VA Committee in May. “This is savings we can achieve that will be redirected to veteran healthcare and benefits.”

The VA planned to cut 5% of clinical roles across the VHA, largely through attrition, saving the department about $2 billion annually. The department also proposed closing “underused” medical facilities and “consolidating low-demand clinics.”

Internal documents show the VA envisioned cutting VHA’s overall headcount by nearly 33,000 positions — nearly 8% fewer employees than it had in September 2024.

For remaining staff to continue treating patients, VA proposed “modestly” increasing the patients-per-provider ratio, and shifting more appointments to community care and telehealth.

VHA’s non-clinical workforce would have seen the largest personnel cut under this plan. VA officials proposed cutting  3,000 human resources and finance positions, and reducing positions for maintenance staff, police officers and other support officials.

The Veterans Benefits Administration would’ve also shed about 7,000 under this plan. The department proposed further automation of claims processing and expected a “post-PACT Act” surge in claims to recede. The remaining VBA staff would focus on “critical claims.”

chart visualization

The department also envisioned cutting about 250 jobs from the National Cemetery Administration. Under this earlier plan, the VA considered contracting out some services, and adjusting staff at “lower-volume cemeteries.”

The VA estimates that its previous goal of eliminating 83,000 positions would’ve saved the department $8.3 billion in annual costs.

The VA recently announced that it is no longer planning on a department-wide RIF that would have occurred this month.  Instead, the department expects to eliminate 30,000 positions by the end of fiscal 2025, largely through attrition.

The VA says it’s shed about 17,000 positions between January and June. Those cuts happened through attrition under a governmentwide hiring freeze, the deferred resignation program and retirements. Between now and Sept. 30, the department expects nearly another 12,000 VA employees will leave through “normal attrition,” voluntary early retirement offers and deferred resignation offers — “eliminating the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force.”

“VA has multiple safeguards in place to ensure these staff reductions do not impact veteran care or benefits,” the department wrote in a press release on July 7.

Some employees, however, remain wary. A VA employee told Federal News Network that the department’s announcement “leaves the door wide open for a RIF in certain areas,” such as VA’s Central Office (VACO) or regional Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISNs).

The latest VA data shows that about 7,500 employees in veteran-facing jobs have left the department so far this fiscal year. That includes a net loss of 1,720 registered nurses, nearly 1,150 medical support assistants, more than 600 physicians, nearly 200 police officers, nearly 80 psychologists and nearly 1,100 veteran claim examiners.

VA Press Secretary Peter Kasperowicz said the net loss of 7,500 employees in veteran-facing jobs so far this fiscal year is the result of attrition, and that the department expects to rehire for these roles.

The VA is also bringing fewer employees on board. The latest VA data shows the department is seeing a 45% decrease in job applications submitted between fiscal 2025 and 2024, and a 56% reduction in new employees starting jobs.

Other internal VA documents previously reported on by Federal News Network show senior department officials, up until recently, were weighing the pros and cons of more significant workforce cuts. “

“Reorganization Implementation Cell” documents briefly available on the VA’s internal SharePoint site show that the VA, between April and June, still considered more aggressive staffing cuts.

One document, dated April 18, shows senior VA officials considered shrinking the number of VISNs from 18 to 10. In these preliminary planning documents, VA officials planned to consolidate as many as three VISNs into one.

According to the internal documents, VA senior officials said in April that a 15% workforce cut from VHA’s Central Office and VISNs meant the department would still have to cut 55,000 positions from the “field,” in order to meet departmentwide goals.

According to those internal documents, a senior VA official said he “does not know how it doesn’t affect veterans care,” if the VA followed through with cutting 55,000 field positions.

In June, the VA paid the Office of Personnel Management more than $726,000 to help oversee its reduction-in-force and reorganization plans.

According to an interagency agreement, VA said it was seeking OPM’s assistance because the VA “has never undertaken such a large restructuring, and does not have the capabilities, expertise or the internal resources to fulfill the requirement.”

The post Here’s how VA envisioned cutting 83,000 employees before scrapping its plans first appeared on Federal News Network.

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Hulk Hogan’s Death Certificate Released

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15 hours ago

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August 2, 2025

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Hulk Hogan’s death certificate was obtained by TMZ on Friday.

Hogan passed away at the age of 71 last Thursday from acute myocardial infarction. He also had a history of leukemia.

The wrestling legend was rushed to the hospital last week after emergency responders received a phone call for “cardiac arrest.”

The death certificate revealed Hulk Hogan was cremated in Clearwater, Florida.

“Hulk’s official cause of death was previously revealed as a heart attack. His medical records also showed a history of atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that causes an irregular heartbeat. HH was also diagnosed with a form of cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), though details surrounding the cancer are unclear,” TMZ reported.

Hulk Hogan death certificate / TMZ

President Trump praised Hulk Hogan for his “absolutely electric” speech at last year’s RNC convention.

“We lost a great friend today, the “Hulkster.” Hulk Hogan was MAGA all the way — Strong, tough, smart, but with the biggest heart. He gave an absolutely electric speech at the Republican National Convention, that was one of the highlights of the entire week. He entertained fans from all over the World, and the cultural impact he had was massive. To his wife, Sky, and family, we give our warmest best wishes and love. Hulk Hogan will be greatly missed!”

Hulk Hogan and his wife were baptized in December 2023.

“Total surrender and dedication to Jesus is the greatest day of my life. No worries, no hate, no judgment… only love!” Hulk Hogan said.

RIP to an American icon.

The post Hulk Hogan’s Death Certificate Released appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Stephen A. Smith SLAMS Zohran Mamdani and the Democrat Party

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16 hours ago

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August 2, 2025

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Stephen A. Smith SLAMS Zohran Mamdani and the Radical Democrat Wing: “Either the Party Ends, or the United States Ends”

In a bold and fiery statement that has made waves across social media and major news outlets, commentator Stephen A. Smith unleashed a scathing rebuke of the radical left’s takeover of the Democratic Party. Targeting the likes of New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Bernie Sanders, Smith warned of the existential threat their socialist ideas pose to the future of the United States.

Smith reacted to a recent statement by Mamdani, who argued that “no

The post Stephen A. Smith SLAMS Zohran Mamdani and the Democrat Party appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Trump Gets Backlash Over RNC Chair Endorsement: An LGBT ‘Ally’ Who ‘Just Tried to Pass Amnesty’

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August 2, 2025

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Get ready for the next clash of conservatives.

When Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley announced Thursday he is entering the race for Senate in North Carolina, he did more than put a second high-profile name in the running in the Tar Heel State.

He set up what could be a bruising battle for leadership of the GOP on a nationwide scale.

In a July 24 post on the social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump, the hands-down heavyweight of party politics, heartily endorsed Whatley in the North Carolina race, and at the same time endorsed Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters, the party’s current national treasurer, to step into Whatley’s place.

But there’s already a groundswell of opposition to Gruters. And one of his most vocal opponents is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

As the Sunshine State news website Florida Politics noted in a July 16 report, DeSantis slammed Gruters in a news conference where DeSantis appointed Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia to the post of Florida chief financial officer.

It’s a job Gruters has been running for since May of last year.

While appointing a rival to the vacant post, DeSantis made his distaste for Gruters painfully clear.

“If George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ my response would be, no, I can’t do that without betraying the voters that elected me,” DeSantis said, according to Florida Politics.

He accused Gruters of siding with teachers’ unions in battles with the state government, as well as supporting the marijuana industry (a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational use failed in November).

According to the Tampa Bay Times, DeSantis and Gruters clashed over a bill Gruters supported that would have put the job of chief immigration officer in the state in the hands of the state’s agriculture commissioner.

In a post on the social media platform X, DeSantis called the bill “truly contemptible” and described it as “amnesty.”

And as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported in January 2020, Gruters had a history of sponsoring pro-gay legislation in the state before appearing to reverse course.

“I’m an ally of the LGBTQ community,” he told the newspaper.

More recently, in April, Gruters made the wrong kind of headlines when the U.K.’s Daily Mail, a British outlet with a major North American presence, revealed he was a follower of 60 accounts on the adult-themed OnlyFans site.

(“I typically engage accounts that are recommended or interact with my account,” Gruters told the Daily Mail. “That said, I will review my follows and remove any content that may be considered questionable.”)

Conservative media users aren’t letting that past go.

“Perfect for San Francisco, nightmare for Florida,” one pro-DeSantis account on the social media platform X declared.

“Gruters just tried to pass amnesty for illegal aliens in Florida,” wrote another user.

The conservative pro-life website LifeSiteNews made its view clear in its headline and summary head about Trump’s endorsement.

“Trump endorses LGBT ‘ally’ Joe Gruters to be next RNC chair,” the headline declared.

The summary headline?

“Donald Trump has endorsed Joe Gruters to lead the Republican National Committee despite the Florida lawmaker’s liberal stances on LGBT ‘discrimination,’ immigration, teachers’ unions, and marijuana.”

According to Florida Politics, Gruters was the first Florida lawmaker to make an official endorsement of Trump in the Republican 2024 primary — snubbing DeSantis’ short-lived, mistake-in-hindsight primary challenge to the 45th president.

That no doubt plays a role in both Trump’s support for Gruters and DeSantis’ opposition, but there appear to be deeper factors at play here.

In a job as crucial as the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, having anything less than sterling, unblemished bona fides is going to be a problem with a voter base with a limited trust in establishment politicians, even if they have an “R” next to their name.

Questionable positions on “trans” issues, illegal immigration, and drugs — not to mention raising eyebrows by following OnlyFans models — are serious red flags for any contender for the job.

Trump has proven over and over again what he can accomplish with sheer force of will, and he’s almost single-handedly responsible for revising the ideological power of the Republican Party after the dormancy of the post-Mitt Romney world.

As the titular head of the party, as well as probably the single most influential human being in the world, much less the American GOP, he could almost certainly install any chairman of the party he chooses.

However, the situation now is the midterms are approaching next year, and the magic “Trump” name is not on the ballot — which means the energy of the party faithful is going to be at a premium for all of the Republican Party.

The question for Trump is, is a clash with conservatives worth it?

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Trump Gets Backlash Over RNC Chair Endorsement: An LGBT ‘Ally’ Who ‘Just Tried to Pass Amnesty’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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