2 days ago
Are veterans better or worse off under the Trump Administration?
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) – Looming thunderclouds and even hailstorms couldn't stop the Stand With Veterans event from marching on D-Day outside the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Grand Junction. The stormy weather reflected what veterans who spoke and attended the event say they feel: a looming sense of dread for their future care, locally and nationwide. Long after the storm has passed, a debate rages on. Are veterans better or worse under President Trump?
The Trump Administration has reportedly fired over 2,000 VA employees nationwide since February, and according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press, another 80,000 jobs from the agency are set to be on the chopping block in August of this year. Organizers of the Stand With Veterans march shared their concerns with WesternSlopeNow over how they believe these reorganizations at the federal level will affect vets here at home.
'When you have cuts even to administrative staff, the effects really do trickle down,' says Mallory Martin, an organizer for Stand With Veterans. 'Those administrative tasks aren't taken away, you know. The things that those people were doing are still requirements, they're still things, paperwork or whatever it is, that now nurses are having to do, which takes time away from their patient care.'
But the VA tells a different story. We reached out to local officials for response to the march, and instead, an answer came all the way from the White House. VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz issued a statement to WesternSlopeNow, staying in part:
'Imagine how much better off veterans would be if VA's critics cared as much about fixing the department as they do about protecting its broken bureaucracy. The Biden Administration's VA failed to address nearly all of the department's most serious problems such as rising health care wait times, growing backlogs of veterans waiting for disability compensation, and major issues with survivor benefits.'
Secretary Kasperowicz also shared multiple statistics regarding how VA officials are allegedly fixing these problems, and in their own words, putting veterans first. The VA claims in part:
· VA has opened around the country.
· VA is , reaching 1 million claims processed for FY25 by Feb. 20 (faster, they allege, than at any point in history).
· VA has brought more than 60,000 VA employees , where they say they can work better as a team to serve veterans.
As a reminder, those statements and statistics are from the White House, not the local chapter VA. WesternSlopeNow will be following the continued reorganizations at the federal level and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
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