1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to express my alarm at the Department of Government Efficiency’s plans to cut 80,000 employees from the Department of Veteran Affairs Not only does the VA provide critical services for U.S. servicemembers—people who have put their lives on the line for all of us—but 25% of its entire workforce are veterans. This Republican administration illegally fired the VA’s Inspector General, who saved the agency $45 billion during his tenure. These staff cuts have nothing to do with eliminating waste or fraud at the VA. DOGE’s mission from the start has been about funding tax cuts for billionaires. Doing so at the cost of our veterans is repugnant. That is compounded by most of the DOGE staff being too callow to realize the lasting damage they are causing. Or to care. As someone with military ties going back multiple generations, I know there is no price that can be put on the sacrifices our veterans have made for this country. The least we can do is provide them with employment, healthcare, and the best-quality service at the agency created to help them. To make this situation worse, DOGE is not a legitimate Federal department. Its staff has had no formal vetting. Its leader, Elon Musk, was neither vetted nor appointed by Congress. Yet they are making unilateral decisions negatively impacting veterans across the country My wife and I strongly urge you to speak out forcefully against cuts to the VA, and to block any cuts made by DOGE. Please protect our veterans—just as they have protected all of us.