Central ND News

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced plans to reduce its workforce by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of fiscal year 2025. This reduction is being achieved through a federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements, and normal attrition, thus avoiding the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force (RIF).

The VA had approximately 484,000 employees as of January 1, 2025. By June 1, that number had decreased to around 467,000. The department anticipates an additional reduction of nearly 12,000 employees by September 30 through these measures.

Safeguards are in place to ensure that these staff reductions do not affect veteran care or benefits. More than 350,000 positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze.

VA Secretary Doug Collins stated: “Since March, we’ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to Veterans.” He added that while a department-wide RIF is off the table, efforts will continue to improve services for veterans.

Under President Trump and Secretary Collins' leadership, VA's performance has reportedly improved. The disability claims backlog has decreased by nearly 30%, with record numbers of claims processed this fiscal year. Other reforms include accelerating the deployment of an integrated electronic health record system and ending DEI policies at the department.

The VA is exploring further reforms aimed at improving operational efficiency. These include centralizing administrative functions across various administrations within the VA and consolidating payroll systems under the VA Time and Attendance System.

Questions or comments can be directed to the Office of Media Relations at vapublicaffairs@va.gov. Veterans seeking information about their health care and benefits can submit queries online through Ask VA or use the chatbot available on VA.gov.