The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has responded to media coverage about a Charlottesville man protesting cuts to the administration outside the White House.
According to VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz, the department has been on a high-risk list for 10 years at the Government Accountability Office. The GAO says the VA faces “system-wide challenges in overseeing patient safety and access to care, hiring critical staff and meeting future infrastructure needs.”
“We want to reform the department to fix these and other problems. VA is already redirecting billions of dollars from non-mission critical efforts to veteran-facing services, which will result in massive improvements without cutting health care or benefits,” Kasperowicz said.
He added that American veterans deserve better than a health care system that is on a high-risk list.
“We have an obligation to make VA work better for the veterans, families, caregivers and survivors we are charged with serving, and that is exactly what we will do,” Kasperowicz said.
Kasperowicz said that media and some members of Congress have spread false rumors about the health care and benefits cuts at the VA. The department has opened four new clinics across the United States in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Ridgewood, New York, Aurura, Colorado and Hamilton, Montana. The Fredericksburg Clinic began accepting new patients on March 3.
“Don’t believe the fake news,” VA Secretary Doug Collins posted on X on Friday.
Last Monday, Richard Hobcraft Allan III, 80, of Charlottesville wore a pipe on his arms reading “King Trump and Pres Musk are killing veterans,” and encouraged his fellow veterans to participate in a march on Saturday.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia is leading legislation to reinstate thousands of veterans who lost their jobs in the Trump/Musk/DOGE cuts.
“Trump is waging a war on veterans — he’s fired more veterans in his first few weeks in office than any other president in U.S. history. That’s unacceptable. I’m standing up for those who made tremendous sacrifices for our nation by spearheading an effort to help these veterans get their jobs back,” Kaine posted on X Thursday.
Kaine posted on March 3 that mass federal layoffs were leaving veterans unemployed and “creating barriers to accessing care in Salem and nationwide. I’m fighting to protect veterans from shortsighted cuts by urging Trump to reinstate fired veterans and ensure VA facilities are fully staffed.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
