{"id":39040,"date":"2025-01-25T13:22:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T21:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=39040"},"modified":"2025-01-25T13:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T21:22:48","slug":"va-exempts-300000-health-care-positions-from-governmentwide-hiring-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/25\/va-exempts-300000-health-care-positions-from-governmentwide-hiring-freeze\/","title":{"rendered":"VA exempts 300,000 health care positions from governmentwide hiring freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of the Veterans Health Administration’s roughly 400,000-employee workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jory Heckman<\/a>@jheckmanWFED<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 23, 2025 (federalnewsnetwork.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Veterans Affairs is exempting more than 300,000 health care positions from a governmentwide hiring freeze.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VA doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical officers are among the dozens of occupations excluded from the hiring freeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter, in a memo to department leaders, <\/a>stated Veterans Health Administration positions \u201ccritical to delivering care to veterans\u201d are exempt from the freeze, under the category of public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Times first reported<\/a> on the memo before its public release on Thursday. The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of VHA\u2019s approximately 400,000-employee workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple individuals, however, have told Federal News Network they have had final job offers rescinded for VA health care positions since Trump ordered the hiring freeze, and are not sure if the department will reverse course after issuing the memo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another memo sent by the leadership of one VA medical center, obtained by Federal News Network, said human resources will \u201cimmediately take actions to contact hires in these occupations who had job offers rescinded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHR will also work to re-initiate postings and move forward on any other hiring actions for occupations which are now exempt,\u201d the memo states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One job applicant said her final job offer for a nurse position was rescinded by the VA on Wednesday, but was reinstated on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[They] told me that they would be able to hire me and keep my start date,\u201d the individual said. \u201cIt\u2019s been an emotional couple of days, but it looks like everything is working out. But the HR reps are definitely working overtime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump, in an executive order signed Monday<\/a>, included several exemptions, including one for veterans\u2019 benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder President Trump\u2019s leadership, VA will always do what is necessary to provide America\u2019s veterans with the benefits and services they have earned,\u201d VA Director of Media Affairs Morgan Ackley said in a statement Thursday. \u201cThe targeted hiring-freeze exemptions announced today underscore that fact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VA made its health care workforce exempt<\/a> from the first Trump administration\u2019s hiring freeze in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Trump\u2019s nominee to run the VA, didn\u2019t make an explicit assurance<\/a> to lawmakers at his confirmation hearing that the department would grant those same carveouts this time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Trump, in this executive order, is to get an assessment on where we are with our employees. It is not to take away from anything that is currently there,\u201d Collins said Tuesday. \u201cWe may not, at this point, bring in a new person tomorrow, unless needed, but this is where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the Senate VA Committee raised concerns about the hiring freeze at Tuesday\u2019s hiring and whether the Trump administration would pursue cuts to the VA\u2019s workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee advanced Collins\u2019 nomination in an 18-1 vote on Thursday. Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said he would support Collins\u2019 nomination, but added he has \u201creally intense concerns\u201d about the hiring freeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhatever the effects on other departments or agencies, all of you know how dire the need is for the doctors, the nurses, the attendants \u2014 everyone involved in the VA health care system,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cThere\u2019s openings now, they need to be filled \u2014 particularly for mental health care. Delaying these medical appointments and benefits is in some cases denial of those benefits because health is such an urgent need for many of our veterans, particularly our older veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VA memo states all jobs not exempt from the hiring freeze must be pulled from USAJobs.gov and other websites no later than Jan. 21. at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Thursday afternoon, the VA advertised 139 vacant positions on USAJobs.gov. The VA, however, reported more than 40,000 vacancies at the end of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

House VA Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-Calif.) joined House Democrats in asking the department\u2019s leadership for more details about the hiring freeze\u2019s impact on its workforce, and whether it would ask the Office of Personnel Management for more exemptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo one at the White House even stopped to consider that freezing hiring for veterans\u2019 health care providers or veterans claims processers might be a bad idea,\u201d Takano said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokeswoman for the House VA Committee said Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) \u201cfully supports the Trump administration\u2019s exemptions for the VA hiring freeze to ensure that health care services are not impacted for veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jory Heckman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jory Heckman is a reporter at Federal News Network covering U.S. Postal Service, IRS, big data and technology issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow @jheckmanWFED<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of the Veterans Health Administration’s roughly 400,000-employee workforce. Jory Heckman@jheckmanWFED January 23, 2025 (federalnewsnetwork.com) The Department of Veterans Affairs is exempting more than 300,000 health care positions from a governmentwide hiring freeze. VA doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical officers are among the dozens of occupations… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39041,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39040\/revisions\/39041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}