June 6 (UPI) — Several thousand veterans converged on the National Mall on Friday at a rally among 200 events nationwide against a proposed overhaul that includes staffing reduction and some services shifted.
The Veterans Administration counters the new proposed budget is higher than last year, processing of claims have sped up and it’s easier to get benefits.
Veterans, military families and others participated in the Unite for Veterans, Unite for America Rally on the 81st anniversary of D-Day, which was the Allies’ amphibious invasion of German-occupied France.
The protests, which were organized by a union, took place at 16 state capitol buildings and more than 100 other places across 43 states.
“We are coming together to defend the benefits, jobs and dignity that every generation of veterans has earned through sacrifice,” Unite for Veterans said on its website. “Veteran jobs, healthcare, and essential VA services are under attack. We will not stand by.”
Speakers in Washington included Democrats with military backgrounds: Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, former Rep. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania and California Rep. Derek Tran.
There were signs against President Donald Trump, VA Secretary Doug Collins and Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire who ran the Department of Government Efficiency. They said those leaders are betraying the country’s promises to troops.
“Are you tired of being thanked for our service in the public and stabbed in our back in private?” Army veteran Everett Kelly, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, asked the crowd.
“For years, politicians on both sides of the aisle have campaigned on their support of veterans, but once they get into office, they cut our benefits, our services. They take every opportunity to privatize our health care.”
The Trump administration plans to cut 83,000 VA staffers and shift more money from the federal health care system to private-sector clinics.
The administration’s proposed budget for the VA, released on Friday, slashes spending for “medical services” by $12bn – or nearly 20% – an amount offset by a corresponding 50% boost in funding for veterans seeking healthcare in the private sector.
The Department of Veterans Affairs employs approximately 482,000 people, including 500,000 workers at 170 hospitals and 1,200 local clinics in the nation’s largest health care system.
In all, there are 15.8 million veterans, which represents 6.1% of the civilian population 18 years and older.
VA officials said the event was misguided.
“Imagine how much better off veterans would be if VA’s critics cared as much about fixing the department as they do about protecting its broken bureaucracy,” VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz said in a statement to UPI. “The Biden Administration’s VA failed to address nearly all of the department’s most serious problems, such as rising health care wait times, growing backlogs of veterans waiting for disability compensation and major issues with survivor benefits.”
Kasperowicz told UPI disability claims backlog is already down 25% since Trump took office on Jan. 20 after it increased 24% during the Biden administration.
He said VA has opened 10 new healthcare clinics around the country, and Trump has proposed a 10% budget increase to $441.3 billion in fiscal year 2026.
The administration’s proposed budget for the VA reduces spending for “medical services” by $12 billion – or nearly 20% – which is offset by a 50% boost in funding for veterans seeking healthcare in the private sector.
Kasperowicz said the “VA is accelerating the deployment of its integrated electronic health record system, after the program was nearly dormant for almost two years under the Biden Administration.”
The event was modeled after the Bonus Army protests of the 1930s, when veterans who served in World War I gathered in the nation’s capital to demand extra pay denied after leaving the service.
Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse working at a VA hospital and the secretary-treasurer of National Nurses United, told the crowd in Washington: “It’s important for every person to keep their job, from the engineering staff to the housekeeper to the dietary staff. When cuts are made, the nursing and medical staff will have to pick up all their work that needs to be done.”