How will Trump administration’s proposed cut of 80,000 VA jobs affect Rhode Island veterans?

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Associated Press obtained an internal memo from Veterans Affairs and is explaining how the Trump administration plans to remove over 80,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The AP reports that the memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to “resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.”

It also calls for agency officials to work with the White House’s DOGE to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals.

Rucking for Roofs, an East Providence-based nonprofit organization that aims to house veterans has weighed in on how this can impact veterans in Rhode Island.

“Automatically, you’re trying to see what that looks like, what that’s going to equal in our backyard,” said Matt Vianna, veteran and head of Rucking for Roofs.

“It’s getting ahead of it now, it’s planning now and being ready for what that may look like to triage that, to make sure the veterans themselves are not the ones that are going to pay the price for it.”

Veterans Affairs secretary Doug Collins is assuring veterans that these layoffs would not interfere with any veteran services including healthcare.

“For many years, veterans have been asking for a more efficient, accountable, and transparent VA, this administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want,” said Collins.

Additionally, Collins is assuring that the agency plans on hiring for over 300,000 positions with the intention that no veteran benefits like health care are compromised.