Trump’s hiring freeze comes as VA in Spokane seeks doctors, nurses
The Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Administration Medical Center in Spokane has job openings for doctors, nurses and other care specialists that may or may not be filled because of President Donald Trump’s hiring freeze of federal workers.
The president’s press secretary initially said the freeze would extend to the VA, which has been harshly criticized for the long wait times veterans face getting care.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said of the VA Tuesday, “Right now, the system’s broken,” and that the hiring freeze is meant as a “pause” while a new VA secretary takes stock of the situation.
“And I think the VA in particular, if you look at the problems that have plagued people, hiring more people isn’t the answer,” Spicer said, according to the Washington Post. “It’s hiring the right people, putting the procedures in place that ensure that our veterans – whether health care or mortgages or the other services that VA provides to those who have served our nation – get the services that they’ve earned.”
Then on Wednesday, Acting VA Secretary Robert Snyder said, “The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to exempt anyone it deems necessary for public safety, including frontline caregivers.”
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., on Thursday demanded that Trump exempt the Department of Veterans Administration from the hiring freeze. Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said veterans seeking federal jobs should be exempt from the freeze as well.
The VA has at least 300 job openings in Washington and 45,000 nationally, she said in a news release.
“At a time when we are working to help veterans get the care they earned in their service to our country, this action would only impede the department’s ability to follow through, including at facilities in our state,” Murray said in a prepared statement.
The VA hospital in Spokane is trying to hire a primary care doctor, an emergency room physician and a psychiatric nurse practitioner, among other jobs.
USAjobs.gov shows that there are more than 50 federal job openings within 50 miles of Spokane, not all at the VA.
Bret Bowers, spokesman at Mann-Grandstaff, said he could not comment on the issue and referred to Snyder’s statement. A deputy press secretary in Snyder’s office said no other information was available.
Material from the Washington Post was used in this report.