Photo credit: www.govexec.com

Concerns Mount Over VA Staffing Cuts Impact on Research Workforce

Members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are urging the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to clarify how planned staffing reductions will affect its research capabilities. This call for transparency follows a temporary reprieve for certain researchers facing imminent layoffs.

In a letter dated April 1, a group of ten lawmakers, led by Ranking Member Mark Takano, D-Calif., reached out to VA Secretary Doug Collins. They expressed serious concerns regarding the department’s plans to potentially eliminate up to 83,000 positions later this year and its implications for ongoing research initiatives.

“We are extremely concerned that, absent your immediate action, ongoing disruptions to this research will severely damage veteran healthcare,” the committee members stated. They highlighted several crucial projects, including studies related to post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer’s disease treatments, and opioid use disorder interventions, which they claimed have already suffered due to workforce reductions and terminated contracts.

This correspondence comes on the heels of the VA’s recent announcement that it would grant a 90-day extension for term-limited researchers whose appointments were set to expire within that timeframe, offering some measure of relief from oncoming layoffs.

The extension applied to researchers with ‘Not to Exceed’ (NTE) term limits and those classified as ‘Without Compensation’ (WOC). NTE employees typically work under renewable three-year contracts, while WOC staff are designated as federal employees but do not receive a direct salary from the VA for their research work.

Despite earlier assurances from Collins that “mission-critical positions” would be safe from cuts, it appears that NTE and WOC employees—many of whom are involved in vital research—were not included in this exemption. The VA has not provided a similar exemption from a governmentwide hiring freeze affecting these employees.

A spokesperson for the VA previously stated that the 90-day extension, announced on March 7, “will ensure continuity of all research efforts while VA conducts a comprehensive assessment of ongoing research initiatives to evaluate their impact on Veteran health care.”

However, the lawmakers highlighted that more than half of VA’s 6,500 researchers are on term-limited appointments. They noted that the “abrupt, although welcome” extension does not apply retroactively to researchers who had already been terminated.

“The fact that your department has made efforts to extend these appointments demonstrates to us that you realized too late the crucial role these researchers play in ensuring veterans’ access to care and are now seeking to mitigate the effects of your haphazard, unconsidered approach to hiring decisions,” the committee members wrote.

With uncertainty hanging over the workforce after the 90-day extension, the lawmakers have asked the VA to provide details on the communication regarding the extensions sent to term-limited researchers. They also requested lists of NTE and WOC personnel whose contracts expired after January 20, clarifying whether their appointments are being reinstated.

Furthermore, the letter urged the department to furnish a comprehensive list of all VA research projects or clinical trials that have faced interruptions, delays, or cancellations since January 20, 2025, due to staffing changes or contract terminations. The committee seeks to understand the repercussions of these disruptions on veterans involved in the affected studies.

Source
www.govexec.com