The members of the Chamber of Democratic Representatives in Thorsday criticized the movements of the Trump administration to reduce the Department of Veterans Affairs and demanded more transparency of their leaders after a propublic investigation revealed generalized interruptions throughout the agency, the agency agency, the agency’s health, the health of the agency.
“There are dangerous impacts of real life for veterans,” said representative Chris Deluzio or Pennsylvania, citing the work of the news organization.
This week, Propublic reported on Don Doise of Electronic Post Office sent from the staff of the VA hospitals and clinics throughout the country to the headquarters that warns how the cuts could and, in some cases, degrade the capacity of the agency to provide it. In it. In it.
The hiring of freezing and other edicts of the White House has left the medical suppliers fighting and abbreviated in the middle of a series of always changing policies movements, including the cancellation of contracts with companies that maintain cancer records, the Enmails said. The employees of the VA centers in Pennsylvania warned that the cuts were causing “severe and immediate impacts”, even the “cancer essays that save lives.”
“Registration in clinical trials stops,” one wrote, “which means that veterans lose access to therapies.” Hospital employees warned that more than 1,000 veteran would lose access to treatment for diseases ranging from metastatic head and neck cancers, to kidney disease, to traumatic brain lesions.
On Thursday, the members of the camera, several or who are veteran, demanded that the leadership of VA provides more details about how the cuts are affecting such work, in which members of the recurring treatment service would not have access.
“We all owe because to cut, fraud and abuse, but what we see today is when you cancel a contract, it means that the end of a clinical trial that will save the lives of some,” said representative Maggie Goodlander or New Hampshire.
In particular, Deluzio, a veteran of the Iraq War, whose district of the Pittsburgh area includes a VA installation, and other legislators said they had learned about the impact for the first time from propublicic reports. On Thursday, they accused the Secretary of the Doug Collins agency of Stonewalling their efforts to find out what positions have been fired, what contracts have been canceled and how future cuts will be seen.
“We want the country to understand that this administration is hiding what they are doing, not only of us and the Congress, but of the veterans and the American people,” Deluzio said.
“And the part of the sausage is that we do not know that Iphone has died,” he added.
President Donald Trump has long said that his administration will prioritize veterans and will not compromise their attention.
The interruptions in the VA have even arrived when the department has fired only a few thousand employees, a small fraction of the employees that said it finally plans to eliminate. Collins has said that the agency is developing plans with the efficiency department of the Elon Musk government to reduce at least 70,000 employees, a number that has underlined is a “objective.” “It could be more, it could be less,” he told legislators this week.
On Thursday, in a publication on X, Collins backed criticism, calling propublicic reports as “misleading” and saying that it was based on “some outdated reports of the internal system used to identify and quickly solve problems throughout the department.”
In a statement, VA press secretary, Pete Kasperoowicz, said Collins was working to fix a “broken bureaucracy” that has long had projects with patient security and access to care, among other problems. “Unfortunately, many in the media, government union leaders and some in Congress are struggling to keep the status quo broken,” he said. “Our message for veterans is simple: despite the great opposition of those who do not want to change anything, we will reform the department so that it works better for veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”
Kasperoowicz previously told the news organization that the problems in Pennsylvania have been solved, they thought that the premises there with knowledge of the problems said that this is not the case and that the impact is inoperating. Kasperoowicz also said with respect to contracts to maintain cancer records that there was no effect on patients. “He added that the VA is moving to create a national contract to administer them.
According to some suppliers, even temporary interruptions have harmed the care of veterans. A clinical trial to treat veterans for opioid addiction was limited to temporary dismissals. “We could not give veterans a tool that could save their lives,” said Ellie Gordon, CEO of the start behavior, which is testing biosensors to alert veterans about the risk of relapse.
Collins promoted cuts at a content hearing sometimes on Tuesday before the United States Senate Venado Affairs Committee.
“We are going to maintain the essential work of the VA mission as doctors, nurses and claims processors, while eliminating the essential roles that are not from missions as interior designers and officers of Dei,” he said in an opening statement. He added that saved funds will be changed to direct medical care and benefits for veterans.
Some Republicans at the audience defended the administration proposition cuts. “The VA has become a swollen bureaucracy,” Senator Tommy Tuberville said, who represents Alabama. “I think most of us will agree with that.”
But Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Backed up the statements of Collins, saying that taking away such a large part of the staff inevitably will invitably set aside health workers, such as nurses and doctors. “You cannot cut and destroy the VA without eliminating those essential positions that provide access and availability of medical care,” he said. “You just can’t be done.”
Others at the audience led Collins to the task due to lack of transparency. Senator Angus King, I-MAINE, admonished the secretary for refusing to provide a list of the 538 contracts canceled since his appointment. Collins said he would provide the information, but only after it is final.
“We are looking at every step we can, but also, I’m not going to play in a public sand,” he said.
J. David McSwane contributed reports.
