U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, the Republican from Lakeland, said Thursday that he supports the removal of 80,000 workers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The wholesale cuts have been spearheaded by the administration of President Donald Trump, including the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by Elon Musk.
“I met with the new VA Secretary in my office last week and he laid out his plans to make the agency more accountable and efficient,” Franklin said.
Franklin, who was first elected to the House seat in 2020, is a Gulf War veteran and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He serves on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.
Lakeland VA: Roderick Cunningham, chief of communications for the James Haley VA Clinic, said the Lakeland clinic has “dismissed a small number of probationary staff,” but added that “this decision will have no negative effect on veteran health care, benefits or other services.”
He did not give a specific number of dismissals.
Lakeland’s new VA Clinic opened in July.
Franklin said he wants to see cuts toward the top of the VA.
“Having witnessed the ineptitude in the upper ranks up close over the past couple of years, I know there’s a truckload of low-hanging fruit,” he said. “The 80,000 estimate would take them back to their pre-Covid end strength.”
Added benefits: In 2022, Congress passed the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, according to the VA’s Fiscal Year 2024 Agency Financial Report.
The VA supported more than 350,000 Veterans who have enrolled in VA health care under the PACT Act and screened 1.2 million Veterans for toxic exposures. The VA also increased claims processing efficiency by fast-tracking claims decisions, resulting in nearly 1.1 million PACT Act claims completed in FY 2024.
“The scope of need has grown since then due to passage of the PACT Act, but there is an absurd amount of inefficiency across the agency that can be eliminated without, theoretically, impacting quality of care,” Franklin said.
“We met with Musk (Wednesday night) and reiterated that vets can’t be hurt in this process. He and Veterans Affairs Sec. Doug Collins know we’re monitoring it closely. We’ll see.”
Franklin said a large portion of the VA’s overall headcount is “layered bureaucracy that doesn’t have any direct interaction with veterans” and that “adding massive numbers of employees to a broken system only compounds the problems. It needs to be fundamentally restructured.”
That process is tricky, he said, like trying to repair a jet in flight. “But we can’t afford to not even try. If we don’t rein it in, the day will come when we aren’t able to honor the commitment our government has made to vets.”
It’s no different with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Franklin continued. “There will be no safety net for the most vulnerable if the entire system tanks. Without significant reform, that is a certainty.”
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Gary Clark, chairman of the Polk Veterans Council, said he hasn’t seen the details of the mass layoffs yet. “However, it would be naive to suggest every VA employee is essential,” he said.
“I believe every government agency should be reviewed rigorously to justify funding needs. Taxpayers deserve to have that confidence.”
Kimberly C. Moore is a reporter for LkldNow, a nonprofit newsroom providing independent local news for Lakeland. Read at LkldNow.com.
