1 day Ago By Esme Murphy
The leader of the Department of Veterans Affairs made a visit to the Minneapolis VA on Tuesday. Secretary Doug Collins dismissed concerns about the Trump administration's sweeping proposed cuts, but it was no comfort to the protesting veterans who fear that reductions are coming. The Minneapolis VA Hospital and its clinics serve more than 100,000 veterans each year.
In March, the Trump administration announced 15% cuts to the VA nationwide — a loss of more than 80,000 jobs as part of Trump's plan to restructure the federal government. "This is one of the best VA hospitals in the nation, and the thing is we don't want to lose it," said Joe Dolan, a Navy veteran who was protesting on Tuesday. "We don't want to lose anybody.
They work for us, that is keeping us alive." After taking a tour of the Minneapolis VA and posing for pictures, Collins said the cuts haven't happened. "Is there a look right now at the reorganization of manpower? Yes there is," he said.
"But also that has to be put in context. For the last ten years, the GAO has said the VA is failing in its core mission, looking at waste and abuse and also patient quality, patient care and retention." Collins says previous administrations have put billions into the the VA to fix problems like long wait times, but things have only gotten worse.
He says the time is now to cut the bureaucracy and waste. "We are just asking a better question. Are we using the resources that we have to make that care better?" he said.
"Granted, there are some bad apples here and there, but don't take the whole system. Go for the problems," said Dolan. For now VA officials insist those sweeping across-the-board cuts are on hold, but that may not be a comfort to the veterans who come to the VA in the Twin Cities on a regular basis for their medical care.
Collins and his staff could not give WCCO a timeline for when decisions about the VA budget might be made. Esme Murphy, a reporter and Sunday morning anchor for WCCO-TV, has been a member of the WCCO-TV staff since December 1990. She is also a weekend talk show host on WCCO Radio.
Born and raised in New York City, Esme ventured into reporting after graduating from Harvard University..
