Veterans to Rally in DC, Nationwide on D-Day to Protest Looming VA Cuts
Veterans from around the nation are heading to Washington, DC, for a rally to protest upcoming cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Protests will also occur in 16 state capitals as well as more than a hundred other venues.
The rallies are set for Friday, June 6, the 81st anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The main one in Washington, DC, will run from 2pm to 5pm on the National Mall and is spearheaded by Unite for Veterans, with support from the Union Veterans Council at the AFL-CIO and other organizations.
The goal: send a message to VA Secretary Doug Collins to reconsider plans to cut the VA workforce to 2019 levels, which could lead to the termination of some 83,000 employees. While Secretary Collins insists that the VA is committed to keeping frontline doctors and nurses, military advocates say the numbers don’t add up.
“This country gave us a promise. The promise was that they would be there for us when we came home,” said Chris Purdy, an Army National Guard veteran helping to organize the rally. “We’re really afraid that the budget will be balanced on the back of veterans who served this country for so long.”
As Unite for Veterans notes, veterans’ groups have been able to successfully lobby for change in years past, pointing to the “Bonus Army” after World War One, the GI Bill after World War Two, and Agent Orange care after Vietnam as just three examples. More recently veterans advocates successfully pushed Congress to enact the PACT Act.
In addition to stopping the job cuts, the group wants to call attention to the following issues:
Defend veteran and military family member employment in the federal workforce;
Stop the privatization and weakening of the Department of Veterans Affairs; and
Hold political leaders accountable for policies that harm veterans and their families
Administration Defends Cuts, Touts Tech Advancements
The Trump Administration called for a four percent increase in discretionary funding at the VA in its fiscal year 2026 skinny budget proposal. But that money is expected to go to technology and improvements in medical care systems, with workforce cuts still on the table. The administration says improvements to technology will help the agency function better even with the staffing cuts.
However, the Washington Post reports that the uncertainty over VA cuts is leading to slumping morale at the VA, with thousands of employees opting for early retirement.
“The veterans now check in and ask us how we are doing,” one social worker at a hospital in the Great Lakes region told The Post. “They see the news and are very aware of the circumstances and fearful of losing VA support that they depend on.”
