The VA had paused billions of dollars in designed lease breaks after concerns were raised about the impact on former treatment, according to lawyers and veterans service organizations.
The contract evaluation is “ongoing and no final,” according to VA media director Pete Kasperowicz in a speech to the store.
” We will not be eliminating any gains or service to Veterans or VA participants, and there will be no adverse effects to VA wellness maintenance, benefits or participants. We are constantly going to take care of Veterans at VA. Period”, he said.
The Trump presidency has cut 2, 400 staff deemed “non-mission important” from the VA as part of its effort to restructure and reduce federal spending.
A VA contracting official warned that some of the targeted contracts, which were generally characterized as” consulting,” included those that would stop chemotherapy and imaging solutions in an internal VA email obtained by the Associated Press on Tuesday.
According to Laid Off VA employees, the hiring of supporting staff could have a ripple effect on experienced treatment, according to a Washington Examiner interview.
” I don’t see how there will be no influence to care for soldiers, pulling people away from the assistance jobs, pulling people away from the source and from the services maintenance and from emergency management, where I work, is all going to have an impact upon the facility”, said Adam Mulvey, 47, who worked at a governmental healthcare facility in Illinois. It’s undoubtedly going to hampered care because the waits may be long, and the time to get medicine or have prosthetics fixed may take long.
VA Secretary , Doug Collins , acknowledged that the new rejections were “extraordinarily hard” but argued that the benefits of$ 83 million a year had come toward serving soldiers.
” These techniques will not injure VA medical, benefits, or participants. In reality, soldiers are going to see a change for the better”, he said in a statement.  ,
The Department of Government Performance said that 28 VA arrangements have been canceled, leading to$ 81 million in savings. Of those, two were for Linked In-related services, one for Politico subscription services, and two related to LGBT outreach efforts, according to Washington Technology. Another canceled contracts were for online development, programme management, and business procedure engineering.
One example of a VA , modern development contract , is one with Cerner— one of the biggest IT deals in the federal government with a roof of$ 10 billion over 10 times. The development was intended to optimize information sharing between the VA, Department of Defense, and local companies. It was negotiated during Trump’s first word.
The rapid pace of DOGE has drawn criticism, including from some Republican. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA )  , urged , Musk to slow down DOGE’s pace of cuts after he was confronted by angry town hall attendees back home in Georgia.
What is DOGE? What should you hear about the Department of Government Performance?
David Shulkin, who served as VA minister during Trump’s first management, told the Associated Press that the growing dimension of the VA was due to the increasing demands of the company. He suggested slamming the firing rate to better understand what kind of workers were required.
” I do think slowing along and pausing to see what the consequences are, even if they are unexpected outcomes, is essential to do”, he said.
