Heinrich: Federal job cuts harming veterans 

By Rodd Cayton

Ill-considered Trump administration budget cuts and staff reductions in the name of efficiency are having profound negative impacts on  veterans in New Mexico and elsewhere, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said Wednesday.

Heinrich, speaking with veterans and advocates at the Veteran Integration Center in Albuquerque, said the new atmosphere is different from what he has previously seen in Congress, in terms of improving the lives of those who served in the armed forces.

Heinrich said the Trump administration’s workforce reductions are particularly hurtful for veterans, resulting in slower service for Veterans Administration clients and loss of many of the agency’s best workers. The cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted provisional employees, he said, but because many had recently been promoted, they were in a 12-month probationary period.

A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman said in an email to NM Political Report that department employees, not DOGE, make the decisions on job cuts.

A disproportionate number of those let go are veterans, Heinrich said.

“Veterans make up 2%, maybe three at the most, of the private sector workforce,” he said. “In the federal workforce, it’s 30%. So whether you’re firing people at the VA … or you’re just firing from whatever agency it is. One out of three of those people is a veteran who was continuing their service in the federal workforce.”

Heinrich said the purpose of the “listening session” was to gather local input he could take back to Washington, D.C. and try to impress upon my colleagues the need to return to more normal operations and ensure veterans benefits are being preserved and services improved.

“Imagine how much better off Veterans would be if Sen. Heinrich cared as much about fixing the department as he does about protecting its broken bureaucracy,” VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said.

Heinrich, a Democrat, serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and has served on the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. He said he was able to help pass spending bills that led in 2022 to the biggest expansion of veteran services in decades.

He said Republican Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas partnered with him to put that legislation together. Heinrich said that work showed that the parties could work together to do right by veterans.

Brock Wolff, CEO of New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers (VIC), said uncertainty could hurt the organization’s credibility with veterans, and in turn, its progress toward reducing homelessness among them.

Wolff said the number of veterans experiencing homelessness has dropped by more than half since 2010, thanks to the combined efforts of local, state and federal government, individual donors and private companies. He said building trust throughout the process of moving from homelessness to independent living is key to VIC’s mission, and uncertainty about whether the organization will be able to continue to help work against that mission.

“One Monday, we got notice that our grant was canceled, and then later that afternoon, it wasn’t canceled,” Wolff said. “That’s terrifying.”

State Sen. Harold Pope Jr. said he, like Heinrich, has been getting calls from veterans who were fired or organizations whose grants have been held up. Pope, himself a retired United States Air Force officer, said that before the cutbacks, the Veterans Administration didn’t have enough staff to serve local veterans, and the move makes no sense to him.

They and VIC staff were joined by veterans who spoke of being terminated for poor performance by email, with no performance review and work orders destined to remain incomplete. They said they fear repercussions from administration officials if they speak out openly of their experiences.

Several speakers questioned the ability of the Veterans Administration to deliver quality health care if Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins realizes plans to eliminate 80,000 jobs at the agency.

Those in attendance were given copies of a letter Heinrich sent to  Collins seeking — for the seventh time — information on his plans for serving veterans and remedies for the firings that have already taken place.

“It is unacceptable that these repeated attempts to contact you on behalf of my constituents have gone completely ignored,” Heinrich wrote in the latest letter, dated Tuesday. “Few sacrifices are as selfless as those our military service members make in defense of our country. We owe them more than a debt of gratitude. We owe them action in both our words and deeds. And certainly, we owe them the quality of care they were promised.”

After the listening session, Heinrich said it’s possible cuts to veterans services will have a long-term impact on military recruiting.

“Iif you want people to step up and serve their country, you have to start from a position of respect,” he said. If people don’t feel like they’re going to be respected as service members, then yeah, it’s going to make it harder to get the best and brightest serving.”

“VA health care has been on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list for more than a decade, and GAO says VA faces ‘system-wide challenges in overseeing patient safety and access to care, hiring critical staff, and meeting future infrastructure needs,'” Kasperowicz said. “Under Secretary Collins, VA is working hard to fix these and other issues. Unfortunately, many in the media, government union bosses and some in Congress are fighting to keep in place the broken status quo. Our message to Veterans is simple: Despite major opposition from those who don’t want to change a thing at VA, we will reform the department to make it work better for Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”

Update: Added quotes from the Veterans Affairs press secretary.