Top lawmakers on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee are introducing bills that seek to rein in workforce cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said in a hearing Tuesday that he supports VA reforms, but changes that affect VA policy and personnel “must be thoughtful, transparent, carried out in close coordination with this committee, with our colleagues and with stakeholders.”

“I am working on legislation that would require the VA’s workforce planning to follow that model, because Congress must play a significant role in strategically shaping VA workforce decisions to achieve the right outcomes for veterans and their families,” Moran said.

Moran said VA Secretary Doug Collins has agreed to testify before the committee about its plans to reshape the department’s workforce.

The VA, in an internal memo sent last week, said it’s looking to cut its workforce down to 2019 staffing levels, and would result in a reduction of about 80,000 positions.

“The goal ought not be a number,” Moran said. “The goal ought to be determine what the mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs is, and how many people in the workforce it takes to accomplish that mission in an effective and efficient way.”

Top Democrats on the committee have also introduced their own legislation in response to VA workforce cuts.

Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Putting Veterans First Act on Tuesday.

Among its provisions, the bill would reinstate all veterans in the federal workforce who were fired, demoted or suspended under the Trump administration’s workforce policies, and provide them with backpay.

The bill would also seek to protect veterans in the federal workforce from mass terminations.

Veterans make up about 30% of the federal workforce.

“Veterans and their families have willingly sacrificed everything for this country, and they deserve a government that treats them with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) introduced similar legislation, the Protect Veterans Jobs Act, along with Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.).

Mark Engelbaum, the assistant secretary of VA’s Office of Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness, told the committee that the department has begun a workforce analysis that will take about three or four months to complete.

“What I’m guaranteeing is a detailed, methodical look and review, a much-needed review of our structure to ensure that our manpower and resources are focused on and their care,” Engelbaum said.

Engelbaum told lawmakers that the estimated 80,000-employee reduction is an estimated goal — not an “arbitrary number” — but said VA’s actual workforce plans will depend on the results of its ongoing analysis.

In some cases, he said it’s possible the VA may decide to increase staffing.

“We may, and we probably should, plus up in other areas. We will take down other areas. We will also look at what we stop doing, as far as specific mission … But if you don’t start with a goal or start with some sort of aggressive planning factor, to force people to think and think outside the box and come up with options, then you’re going to go nowhere,” Engelbaum said.

Engelbaum said the VA surged hiring in recent years to implement the PACT Act, but told lawmakers that “we don’t know where all these employees are.”

“In some areas, we do know where they went … We need to make sure that the employees that we hired are doing the valuable mission that they have been hired to do,” he said.

Meanwhile, Engelbaum said the VA under the Trump administration supports the Restore VA Accountability Act, a bill focused on making it easier for the department to fire employees accused of poor performance or misconduct.

“There’s nothing more disheartening to our workers themselves than having substandard employees around them. There’s nothing that brings down an organization more by having employees that don’t do what they need to do, and you’re unable to either remove them,” Engelbaum said.

The ”vast majority” of VA employees, he added, are dedicated employees committed to serving veterans.

Congress passed a bill similar to the Restore VA Accountability Act in 2017, but implementation fell short of some lawmakers’ expectations.

The VA fired thousands of employees through an expedited removal process created under the 2017 VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. But federal judges and the Merit Systems Protection Board repeatedly blocked many of the legislation’s provisions from covering most VA employees.

A March 2023 memo from a top VA human resources official stated the department would not propose new adverse actions against VA employees using the 2017 law.

Engelbaum conceded that the VA has faced significant legal challenges” implementing the 2017 law, and welcomed input from lawmakers to ensure the Restore VA Accountability Act does not meet a similar fate.

We want to make sure that we have due process. That’s really, really important. But we can’t stymie leadership and management,” he said.

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