The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is expected to go through a “reorganization” plan under the Trump administration that could cut more than 80,000 VA jobs nationwide, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The plan, sent to department officials by VA chief of staff Christopher Syrek, could affect the Orlando VA Healthcare System, which serves nearly 200,000 veterans across Central Florida. A spokesperson for the local system confirmed to Orlando Weekly that “a small number of probationary staff” had already been dismissed, as part of a sweeping effort by Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency — led by tech billionaire Elon Musk — to defund federal agencies and scale back the size of the federal government.
“This decision will have no negative effect on Veteran health care, benefits or other services and will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors,” the local VA spokesperson shared with Orlando Weekly in a statement. “We cannot discuss specific personnel matters due to privacy concerns.”
When asked by Orlando Weekly what exactly a “small number” of dismissed probationary staff means at the Orlando VA Healthcare System, the local spokesperson declined to comment, sharing only, “This response comes from headquarters In Washington DC, and this is what we are approved to provide to you here locally.”
“This response comes from headquarters In Washington DC, and this is what we are approved to provide to you here locally.”
The American Federation of Government Employees Local 559, a labor union that represents employees at the Orlando VA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Orlando VA offers a range of health services for eligible veterans, ranging from primary care services to geriatric care, reproductive healthcare, suicide prevention services, and mental health treatments for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of mental health or substance use disorders.
According to the memo circulated Wednesday, the goal of the job cuts is to get the VA back to its 2019 staffing numbers (read: pre-Biden administration) of about 400,000 department staff nationwide.
Doug Collins, a former Air Force chaplain tapped by President Trump as U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, argued in a video posted to social media Wednesday that the VA is taking a “pragmatic and disciplined approach to eliminating waste and bureaucracy, increasing efficiency and improving health care, benefits and services to veterans.”
The VA isn’t the only federal agency to suffer casualties, however. According to the Washington Post, more than two dozen federal agencies have received directives to cut thousands of jobs, ranging from the Department of Defense to the National Parks Service, National Science Foundation and others.
In response to a lawsuit filed by several federal government labor unions, including the AFGE, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered the human resources arm of the federal government — the Office of Personnel Management — to temporarily rescind its directives to fire federal employees. Probationary workers within federal agencies, including new hires and longtime employees promoted to new positions, have been the primary target.
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“This is a win for the thousands of public servants who keep our country running, for veterans and their families who rely on the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies, and for the millions of Americans who depend on critical government services,” said Jose Vasquez, executive director of the veterans advocacy group Common Defense, in a statement on the judge’s ruling. “The court’s decision stops a blatant power grab that threatened to gut essential services, from veterans’ healthcare to disaster relief.”
Still, the fate of those who have already been dismissed by the federal government is unclear. One Marine vet in Orlando, who worked for the Internal Revenue Service before his firing this past week, described his termination to the Orlando Sentinel as a “slap in the face.”
A scientist from the Tampa Bay area who was working on hurricane resiliency and recovery efforts with the U.S. Interior Department was also abruptly fired under the Trump administration’s job cut orders.
“I loved the job, I loved the team I was working with, and I felt like we were actually making a difference and making progress,” scientist Michael Slattery, a former University of Tampa professor, told the Tampa Bay Times. “Any time you can get science to people who can then act on it, you’re doing the right thing.”
According to the Washington Post, roughly 6,000 veterans working for the federal government have been laid off. More than 25 percent of the VA’s workforce are themselves veterans.
U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat from the Orlando area who recently held a town hall at the Orlando VA with U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, said in a social media post that veterans are “furious” over the Trump administration’s job cuts.
A spokesperson for Soto referred Orlando Weekly to Soto’s previous comments on social media about veteran job cuts Thursday, in lieu of providing a direct response to the memo from the VA. Frost’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president of the broader AFGE labor union for his part said he was outraged by the VA’s plans to cut jobs. “Firing more than 80,000 workers, a third of whom are veterans themselves, will destroy the VA’s ability to fulfill the PACT Act’s promises to veterans who either died or became ill as a result of exposure to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances,” said AFGE president Everett Kelley in a statement.
“The VA has been severely understaffed for many years, resulting in longer wait times for veterans in need. The DOGE plunder of career VA employees, adding to the illegal mass firings of thousands of probationary employees, can only make matter worse. Veterans and their families will suffer unnecessarily, and the will of Congress will be ignored,” Everett added.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis himself announced the creation of Florida’s own DOGE task force of sorts late last month to “streamline our government and continue to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.”
The Florida Democratic Party blasted the move, pointing out specific examples of wasteful spending by the governor himself.
“Ron has consistently passed the largest state budgets in Florida’s history, illegally spent millions of taxpayer dollars to run political campaigns to take down Amendments 3 & 4 and just allocated $250 million to fund his political stunt on immigration,” said FDP chair Nikki Fried in a statement. “Don’t lecture us on wasting taxpayer dollars.”
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This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2025.