House Dems ‘extremely concerned’ VA workforce cuts will further hit researchers

Democrats on the House panel overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs are pressing VA to disclose how proposed staffing cuts will affect its research workforce after many at-risk personnel received a temporary reprieve from impending layoffs. 

In an April 1 letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, 10 members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee — led by Ranking Member Mark Takano, D-Calif. — asked for clarity about how the department’s plan to let go of as many as 83,000 employees later this year will affect its ability to conduct research projects. 

“We are extremely concerned that, absent your immediate action, ongoing disruptions to this research will severely damage veteran healthcare,” the lawmakers wrote, citing projects and clinical trials related to post-traumatic stress disorder, treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and opioid use disorder, among others, that they said have already been affected by workforce reductions and cancelled contracts. 

The missive comes after the department announced last month that term-limited researchers would receive a 90-day extension of their appointments if they were slated to expire in the next 90 days, which shielded some personnel from impending layoffs. 

The extension applied to those with ‘Not to Exceed’ — or NTE — term limits, as well as those who are ‘Without Compensation’ — or WOC — employees. NTE employees typically receive renewable three-year contracts, while WOC personnel are considered federal employees but do not receive a salary directly from VA to conduct research. 

Although Collins previously said “mission-critical positions" would be exempt from the cuts, NTEs and WOCs — many of whom are researchers — were not exempted. VA similarly did not exempt the personnel from a governmentwide hiring freeze.

The 90-day extension announced on March 7 “will ensure continuity of all research efforts while VA conducts a comprehensive assessment of ongoing research initiatives to evaluate their impact on Veteran health care,” a VA spokesperson previously told Nextgov/FCW. 

In their letter, however, the lawmakers noted that over half VA’s 6,500 researchers are on term-limited appointments and that the “abrupt, although welcome” move to temporarily extend the timeframe when researchers would not be impacted by impending layoffs did not retroactively apply to those who had already been let go. 

“The fact that your department has made efforts to extend these appointments demonstrates to us that you realized too late the crucial role these researchers play in ensuring veterans’ access to care and are now seeking to mitigate the effects of your haphazard, unconsidered approach to hiring decisions,” they wrote.

Given concerns about what will happen after the 90-day period ends, the lawmakers asked VA to outline the steps taken to communicate with term-limited researchers about the extension, and to also provide the committee with lists of NTE and WOC personnel whose contracts expired after Jan. 20 and whether or not their appointments were — or will be -- restored. 

The letter’s signatories also requested that the department provide a list “of all VA research projects or clinical trials that have been interrupted, paused, or canceled since January 20, 2025, due to workforce changes and/or contract cancellations at VA,” as well as the impact these delays and cancellations have had on participating veterans.