WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) discussed the latest Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffing cuts throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with leadership from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In a discussion with Alfred J. “Al” Lipphardt, King asked about the denial of benefits resulting from these DOGE cuts and how those cuts are also affecting employment of veterans who put their life on the line for our country.

The conversation comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has dismissed 1,000 probationary federal employees and announced plans to cut an additional 1,400 probationary employees in a second round of layoffs — all part of the current Administration’s reckless efforts to trim the federal workforce. Additionally, job cuts across federal agencies are disproportionally impacting veterans who make up nearly 30% of the federal workforce. In back-to-back joint hearings last week of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC) and the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC), Senator King also sounded the alarm on the detrimental impact these reckless firings will have on veteran care and support.

Senator King began the discussion by sharing the impacts of the firings on veteran care and employment.

Senator King began, “These staffing cuts, there have actually been 2400 firings at the V.A., but then there was a hiring freeze that left a couple of thousand places open, so we are really down 5000 people in the last month at the V.A. Here's how random it is. At first, they were going to have the hiring freeze apply to doctors and nurses. Then they said no, those are direct care workers, we will exempt them. If nobody is there to answer the phone when a veteran calls for an appointment, that's a denial of benefits. 

“Yes, sir,” Commander Lipphardt said.

Senator King responded, “The point has been made, 30% of federal employees are veterans, so when you see a headline that says 1000 people were fired at the CIA, wherever it is, that's 300 veterans. In our hospital, Togus, in Maine, we had seven people laid off. Five were veterans. That's a hell of a way to treat someone who put their life on the line for the country.”

Senator King then pointed out that skillful and thoughtful department trim downs would be much better for the care of our service members and veterans.

Senator King concluded,  “You put it well in your statement, you said ‘I was wounded in combat during Vietnam and am thankful that the medics who treated me chose not to take my whole arm for the sake of efficiency. It took a trained eye and a skillful hand, human intuition to fix me up and get me back in the fight. In my experience, those operating with a scalpel have a better chance of saving lives than those who operate with a chainsaw.’ Thank you, Mr. Commander, for making that statement.”

Representing one of the states with the highest rates of military families and veterans per capita, Senator King has been a staunch advocate for America’s servicemembers and veterans. A member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), he works to ensure American veterans receive their earned benefits and that the VA is properly implementing various programs such as the PACT Act, the State Veterans Homes Domiciliary Care Flexibility Act, and the John Scott Hannon Act.

In February, in a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Senator King joined his colleagues in urging for immediate action to secure veterans’ personal information provided by VA or other agencies to Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a measure that would protect millions of veterans’ medical records stored in VA’s computer systems. Previously, Senator King introduced the Lethal Means Safe Storage for Veteran Suicide Prevention Act to provide firearm storage to veterans in an effort to reduce suicides among the veteran population. In addition, he helped pass the Veterans COLA Act, which increased benefits for 30,000 Maine veterans and their families. Recently, Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation alongside SVAC Chairman Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) to improve care coordination for veterans who rely on both VA health care and Medicare.

Last week, Senator King was honored by the Disabled American Veterans as its 2025 Legislator of the Year. Last year, he was recognized by the Wounded Warrior Project as the 2024 Legislator of the Year for his “outstanding legislative effort and achievement to improve the lives of the wounded, ill, and injured veterans.”

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