The Department of Veterans Affairs dismissed another 1,400 employees on Monday, sparking renewed criticism over transparency and staffing shortages following the termination of 1,000 workers earlier this month, The Hill reported.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism from lawmakers and veterans groups, who argue the cuts will negatively impact the agency's ability to serve veterans.
The VA said the employees dismissed were "non-mission critical" probationary workers who had been with the agency for less than two years. According to a department statement, the eliminated positions were primarily diversity, inclusion, and equity-related, "among other roles."
The agency claims the dismissals will save more than $83 million annually, with funds redirected toward veteran health care, benefits, and services.
"These and other recent personnel decisions are extraordinarily difficult, but VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors as possible," VA Secretary Doug Collins said in the statement. "These moves will not hurt VA health care, benefits, or beneficiaries. In fact, Veterans are going to notice a change for the better."
The latest terminations come amid significant backlash over the agency's handling of previous cuts.
Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., condemned the move, calling it an "illegal termination" at a time when VA facilities are struggling with staffing shortages and increased demand.
"Doug Collins continues to put the interests of veterans last with additional indiscriminate firings of VA employees," Blumenthal said in a statement. "We know these terminations are already impairing the Department's ability to deliver timely and quality care and benefits to veterans, especially as it works to serve more veterans than ever before."
Blumenthal further warned that the terminations will erode trust in the VA and hinder the agency's ability to recruit and retain skilled employees. "These men and women were arbitrarily fired because Doug Collins views them as nothing more than a statistic for his press release," he said.
The Department of Government Efficiency spearheaded the terminations as part of the Trump administration's broader effort to trim the federal workforce, which includes approximately 2.4 million civil servants.
The VA itself employs nearly 480,000 people and serves approximately 9 million veterans.
Democratic lawmakers last week voiced frustration over what they described as a lack of transparency regarding the staffing changes. Several have demanded clarification on which roles were cut and how the reductions affect veterans' benefits.
"There is an almost total lack of transparency and communication here," Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said in a call with reporters Thursday. "I don't know who's in charge of these firings. I don't know whether it's the Department of Government Efficiency, or the White House, or who."
Despite the layoffs, the VA stated Monday that nearly 40,000 probationary employees remain within the department, with most serving in mission-critical roles supporting veterans' benefits and services. The agency also emphasized its ongoing efforts to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions exempt from the government-wide hiring freeze.