DOGE to cancel government contracts that help veterans, records show
WASHINGTON – Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins took to social media on Tuesday to tout sweeping cuts to contracts that he said would save the department nearly $2 billion without touching core services.
But the 875 contracts on the chopping block help cover medical services, fund cancer programs, recruit doctors and provide burial services to veterans, according to internal VA documents.
“Make no mistake,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a statement Tuesday responding to Collins’ announcement. “This is just another reckless cost-cutting decision that will harm veterans and tax payers for years to come.”
The cancellations mark the administration’s latest effort, led by Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, to streamline a federal bureaucracy President Donald Trump has cast as bloated and corrupt – a campaign that has left no part of the 2.3 million civilian workforce untouched, not even the department tasked with supporting the nation’s veterans and their families. On Monday, following a first round of layoffs affecting 1,000 workers, VA announced another 1,400 dismissals of “non-mission critical positions.”
Collins announced the moves to cut contracts from a wood-paneled office in a video posted to X on Tuesday, looking into the camera with papers in hand to declare: “I got some big news for you.”
“I’ve been given this report. Says we were taking millions … in dollars in contracts to create things like PowerPoint slides and meeting minutes,” he said, telling employees they could learn to make their own presentations.
Collins also pledged an end to contracts that provide executive support, and coaching and training, but did not further detail terminations.
He said the savings would be funneled back into veterans’ care: “Don’t let nameless sources, even senators and House members who want to scare you, and media, who want to perpetuate the line. We are taking care of the veterans.”
Blumenthal in an emailed statement about the cancellations late Tuesday listed contracts used to conduct outreach to veterans and their families about burial services and to recruit doctors and other medical workers to hard-to-staff areas among the cuts.
These services matched terminated programs contained in an Excel spreadsheet of the contracts maintained by VA employees, which was reviewed by the Washington Post.
A VA spokesperson, in a response to inquiries about cuts to contracts that support veterans, said, “We will not be canceling any such contracts.”
Among the canceled services listed in the spreadsheet is an arrangement to safely dispose of chemical waste. Another supported environmental testing to meet the Joint Commission’s safety standards.
“Failure to do so may lead to facility closure and hospital acquired infections,” according to internal documents reviewed by The Post.
A third contract assists clinical leadership in implementing cutting-edge cancer health systems.
Blumenthal said many of the targeted contracts “were also used by VA to conduct oversight of its spending and ensure veterans programs operate efficiently for veterans.”