WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned contract cuts following concerns that the move would hurt critical veterans’ health services, lawmakers and veterans service organizations said Wednesday.
The pause affects hundreds of VA contracts that Secretary Doug Collins a day earlier described as simply consulting deals, whose cancellation would save $2 billion as the Trump administration works to slash costs across the federal government.
“No more paying consultants to do things like make Power Point slides and write meeting minutes!” Collins posted to X Tuesday, in a post that was then lauded by Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting chief at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The Associated Press has obtained the full list of 875 affected contracts, which shows the cuts would affect everything from cancer care to the ability to assess toxic exposure. The list underscores how the Trump administration’s approach to broad spending reductions has immediate and potentially unintended consequences, generating significant concern not just among Democrats but also Republican lawmakers.
The VA said in a statement to the AP that its review of the contracts “is ongoing and not final.”
“We will not be eliminating any benefits or services to Veterans or VA beneficiaries, and there will be no negative impact to VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. We are always going to take care of Veterans at VA. Period,” VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement.
One contract that was on the chopping block supports assessing veterans’ disability ratings. Those evaluations are one of the most important steps needed for a veteran to qualify to have their medical care covered and receive financial compensation if they were wounded due to their military service. An inaccurate rating can have a long-term impact on their access to care and financial support.
Another contract is intended to identify and integrate data between the Pentagon, VA and other agencies to support the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, a bill passed in 2022 to increase veterans’ access to care.
Some of the other contracts marked for cancellation also directly affect veterans’ care.
At a joint House and Senate hearing Wednesday with veterans services organizations, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal submitted a partial list of the affected contracts his office had received and submitted it for the congressional record.
If carried out, these cuts “will harm veterans and taxpayers for years to come,” Blumenthal said in a statement.
In an internal VA email sent Tuesday and seen by the AP, a VA contracting official said DOGE targeted contracts broadly categorized as “consulting” but they included ones that if terminated would halt chemotherapy and imaging services.
Contracts to calibrate radiation detection equipment, to support cancer care and veterans cemetery management, among others were also targeted. Another would directly affect the ability to assess toxic exposure because it supports more than 24,000 research requests to look through the National Archives and Records Administration and other government sources to validate service and toxic exposure events.
Former VA Secretary David Shulkin, who served in the Trump administration in his first term, said that while the agency has gotten larger and there are likely savings to be found, the VA grew, in part, to meet the large expansion of veterans enrolling to get care under the PACT Act. More than 740,000 veterans signed up for coverage after the law passed, according to a September 2024 VA press release.
“I do think slowing down and pausing to see what the consequences are, even if they are unintended consequences, is important to do,” Shulkin told The Associated Press.
Veterans service organizations called for ”immediate transparency” on what contracts were affected.
“With funding suddenly stripped from contractors processing claims, conducting medical screenings and expanding outreach, there are growing concerns veterans will face delays, denials and disruptions in accessing critical services,” said Rosie Torres, executive director of Burn Pits 360.
The group advocates for veterans who face life-altering respiratory illnesses and cancers due to toxic exposure to dangerous air particle matter generated from massive trash-burning fires at overseas bases.
The Washington Post was first to report on the cancellations.
___Johnson reported from Washington state.
