Unions, Veterans Protest Cuts to VA
Friday afternoon protest attended by Congresswoman Gwen Moore.
Protest sign at rally in support of Veterans Affairs workers. Photo taken March 7, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.
Veterans, hospital staff and supporters rallied Friday against the plan by President Donald Trump‘s administration to make deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
More than a hundred protested outside the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. The agency, which provides health care and benefits to military veterans and their families, is being targeted for deep cuts by the Trump administration and Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.
Speakers lambasted Trump and Musk for going after Veterans Affairs and civil service workers and said cuts worsen health care for veterans.
“They want to do that to capture the federal dollars to give themselves and their billionaire friends another whopping tax break,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of Wisconsin AFL-CIO.
Shortly after taking office, Trump and Musk have made massive cuts to the federal workforce and attempted to block or clawback federal spending. They have defended the actions as an attempt to clean up waste, fraud and abuse in the government. Now, the VA is planning to fire more than 80,000 employees across the country, or approximately 20% of the agency’s staff, according to a report by Government Executive.
“These are the federal workers the public sector workers that make our country right in ways… that go unnoticed until they are not there,” Bloomingdale said, “and then our country will come unglued.”
Last week, 10 staff members were laid off at the Milwaukee VA. One of them, James Stancil, a veteran, told the crowd he went into work Monday to find an email telling him he was fired for not performing his job.
“Just lie on top of lie on top of lie,” he said.
The VA has a history of scandals for not providing adequate or timely health care, and understaffing has regularly been among the issues at the core of the problem.
“A decade ago, 10 years ago, we started sounding the alarm that the VA did not have enough staff to give all the veterans the care they deserve,” said Monica Lueking-David, a Zablocki VA nurse and chapter president for WFNHP Local 5000.
“Back in the seventies, it was a hellhole. It truly was, and that’s why we stopped coming to the VA,” said Mark Foreman, a Vietnam veteran and board member with Veterans For Peace. “It makes it even deeper pain when they’re trying to send us back to the seventies.”
Under President Joe Biden, Congress passed the PACT Act, which provided increased funding for staffing and service provision within the VA. Many see the cuts as rolling back the efforts of the PACT Act. The leaked memo that revealed plans for the deep staffing cuts suggested the agency should return to 2019 staffing levels, which would mean eliminating the jobs.
LuAnn Bird, a former candidate for state representative, is a frequent visitor to the VA. Her husband is a Vietnam veteran who was paralyzed after returning home from the war.
“If we [go back to 2019] we’re gonna lose all our veteran caregiver services, which keep me going so I can keep him going. We’re gonna lose all that PACT Act funding. We’re gonna lose that research for pain management that my husband just got into,” Bird said. “I’m not for it. We gotta stop that.”
As the Trump administration looks to cut spending in the VA, U.S. Rep Gwen Moore said congressional Republicans are preparing to give the U.S. Department of Defense, a separate agency, “gargantuan amounts of money.”
“But when it comes to funding the veterans, it’s like we’re asking the veterans to hold out a tin cup and beg the government to care for them,” Moore said.
All VA workers, including nursing staff, social workers, housekeepers, food service workers, educators, facilities management, transportation, therapists and supply chain management, among others, “are all essential to providing quality care or our nation’s heroes,” Lueking-David said.
“This is an attack on communities, on workers and on veterans,” Lueking-David said. “We need to save our VA.”
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More than a hundred? There were 400 plus
It would almost be funny if it weren’t so f*cking hideous. MAGA always arguing about how we “shouldn’t support immigrants or other countries until we take care of our own.” And, I’ve heard it dozens of times, “What about our homeless veterans?!”
Well, here you go, b*tches. The Republican Party at its best. “Populism” to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.
Makes me sick.
Why aren’t the dems HARPING endlessly on the fact that all these stupid and ineffective “cuts” are in service of making sure that the new “tax cuts” benefit the rich AND ONLY THE ALREADY OBSCENELY RICH”.
You know like musk, traitor trump and those they associate with.
WHERE IS AOC when we need her
Trump is remaking our nation in his own image: Mean, greedy, thoughtless, corrupt and incompetent. And We The People voted for it.
I understand part of the problem. The US has a huge debt, with interest up to 4%. Something has to give. There is also a doctor shortage.
I don’t understand why we aren’t being creative, and I don’t understand why Representative Fitzgerald isn’t doing more and being a little smarter.
What about requiring 20% of those attending the US Military, Navy, and Air Force Academy to attend medical school? Could the US Army increase the number of medical personnel with the US Army helping to provide care to vets? Could the military do more? Generals used to retire as Major Generals . . . why not go back to that system? Also, I don’t understand why military officers who retire and are found out to have accepted bribes while on active duty (convicted in federal court) are getting full retirement. A dollar wasted here and there adds up. Perhaps those wasted dollars could pay down the debt and cover the VA.
Then, there is the failure of Representative Fitzgerald. He does nothing. He knows – but, doesn’t want to rock the boat. Just get elected and go on and on with out any real action.
I don’t understand. Why do people vote for Representative Fitzgerald and then complain?