For years, the federal government has ballooned into an inefficient bureaucracy, weighed down by redundant positions, wasteful spending, and layers of administration that do little to serve the people they claim to help. The latest round of federal workforce reductions—including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—isn’t a crisis; it’s a much-needed correction. Here’s why these cuts are not only justified but necessary.
1. The Federal Workforce Is Overgrown—and Needs to Be Trimmed
The idea that reducing the federal workforce is inherently harmful to veterans is absurd. The VA alone employs nearly half a million people, many of whom are in administrative roles that do nothing to improve healthcare, benefits, or real services. Cutting 83,000 positions is not a war on veterans; it’s a war on waste.
For years, federal employment has expanded far beyond what is necessary, creating a bloated system where taxpayers fund layers of management that slow down efficiency rather than improve it. Reducing unnecessary positions will streamline the VA, allowing more direct resources to go where they actually matter—not to middle managers buried in bureaucracy.
2. The VA Is Grossly Overstaffed with Pointless Jobs
The VA is notorious for waste, inefficiency, and redundancy. Many of the positions being cut are administrative or bureaucratic roles that contribute little to actual veteran care. Do we need diversity officers, assistant communications directors, or community engagement specialists when veterans are waiting for medical care? Absolutely not. The VA has spent years stacking its payroll with unnecessary positions while veterans wait months for basic healthcare.
Rather than lamenting job cuts, we should be asking why these positions existed in the first place. If the system is so fragile that reducing this excess is a crisis, that’s an indictment of how poorly managed the VA has become—not a reason to keep throwing money at it.
3. The VA Suicide Hotline Is Not Working—and Throwing More Money at It Won’t Help
We constantly hear about the veteran suicide crisis, and yet despite millions of dollars poured into the VA’s Suicide Hotline, the numbers remain tragically high.
If the system was truly effective, we wouldn’t still be losing an average of 17.6 veterans per day to suicide. The cold reality is that this hotline has not provided the lifeline it claims to be. More staff doesn’t equal better outcomes. It’s time to rethink how we help veterans in crisis rather than just demanding endless funding for a program that clearly isn’t solving the problem.
4. Cutting 350 VA Researchers Doesn’t Mean Less Effective Research
The idea that 350 fewer VA researchers will somehow cripple medical progress is pure fear-mongering. Research will still happen—just without the inefficiencies of overpaid bureaucrats managing the process.
In reality, groundbreaking medical research has always been driven by the private sector, universities, and independent institutions. The VA is not the sole contributor to advancements in healthcare. Losing these positions doesn’t mean losing good research; it means eliminating dead weight and refocusing efforts where they actually matter.
5. The Medicaid “Crisis” for Veterans Is Overblown
Despite the panic about Medicaid cuts, there is zero concrete proof that veterans will suddenly lose access to healthcare. The VA already provides comprehensive medical services to millions of veterans, and the notion that Medicaid is the last safety net for veterans is misleading at best.
Yes, some veterans use Medicaid, but there has been no actual cut to veteran benefits through these federal reductions. The claim that hundreds of thousands of veterans will be left without care is nothing more than a political scare tactic.
The Bottom Line: Cutting Federal Waste Is a Win for Everyone
The reality is that federal workforce cuts—especially at the VA—are not an attack on veterans. They are a necessary step to reduce bloat, waste, and inefficiency in a system that has failed to deliver the quality of care our veterans deserve.
Instead of blindly defending every federal job, we should be asking: Are these jobs actually helping veterans? If not, they shouldn’t exist.
Streamlining the VA and eliminating bureaucratic excess will ultimately lead to a leaner, more effective system that puts resources where they truly matter—directly into the hands of the veterans who need them most.