Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) is calling for an immediate investigation into staff cuts from the Trump Administration and how they are hurting veterans at the Dallas VA Medical Center, one of the largest veterans’ health facilities in the country.
In a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General, Rep. Crockett warned that staffing reductions mandated by a February 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump (R) have had “catastrophic” effects on veteran care.
The cuts, implemented under the “Department of Government Efficiency’s Workforce Optimization Initiative,” included hiring freezes, layoffs of probationary employees, and reorganization plans that Rep. Crockett says have left the Dallas VA critically understaffed.
“Surgeries are being delayed. Vets are being left without mental health care,” Crockett wrote in a social media post announcing her demand for accountability. “If you claim to support veterans, act like it.”
According to her letter, the VA North Texas Health Care System completed over one million outpatient visits in 2023, serving nearly 250,000 veterans. Of those quarter-million veterans, 25,000 were women.
The North Texas VA was already facing “severe” staffing shortages across 17 occupations, including nursing, psychiatry, surgery, and neurology, per an August 2024 report by the VA Office of Inspector General.
Rep. Crockett requested answers to several urgent questions: Has the VA’s reorganization reduced the number of surgeries or delayed medical procedures? Are veterans being pushed into private community care due to lack of internal staffing? And what steps is the VA taking to overcome onboarding delays tied to access issues with USA Staffing accounts?
“These changes have affected veteran care,” Crockett warned in the letter. “Veterans in Texas’s 30th congressional district are feeling abandoned.”
One priority for Republicans has been reforming the VA and offering better care for veterans. However, Rep. Crockett questions the staff cuts, suggesting that they’ve elicited a negative outcome for veterans.
“Trump cut staffing at the VA, and now Dallas vets are waiting months for care,” she shared on X.
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