[WASHINGTON, DC] - Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today released a comprehensive report detailing the harm and impacts of the Trump Administration's draconian directives and cuts on veterans. The report, Breaking the Pact: Impacts of Trump, DOGE, and Doug Collins' Ongoing Assault on Veterans, was released ahead of the Committee's oversight hearing with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins next week.

Blumenthal's report reveals historic staffing losses at the Department resulting in dire workforce shortages, increasing wait times for life-saving mental health care, and veterans' care and benefits being put at risk as a direct result of the Trump Administration's harmful policies. The Committee report-compiled from extensive reporting, firsthand accounts, and ongoing conversations with veterans and VA employees across the nation-details the Administration's systemic assault on VA over the past year and the tangible impacts its cuts are having on veterans.

"Instead of building on the progress of the Biden Administration and prioritizing veterans' best interests, the Trump Administration has spent the last year recklessly implementing politically-motivated policies that place veterans' care and benefits at greater risk than ever before," said Blumenthal. "The costs of these policies are mounting. VA is hemorrhaging doctors, mental health professionals, nurses, and other frontline providers. Experienced staff are leaving in droves, while recruitment falters amid toxic working conditions and indiscriminate firings. The resulting harm to the quality and timeliness of care will be felt for years. And this growing damage helps explain why the Trump Administration has often refused to provide Congress with even the most basic information about their policies and their impact on veterans."

Blumenthal continued, "This report-grounded in testimony from veterans and VA employees-seeks to expose that cover-up and document the harm inflicted. The conclusion is unmistakable: Veterans are paying the price for this Administration's self-inflicted sabotage, while dedicated VA employees are demoralized and exhausted by the incompetence and hostility of their leadership."

The report provides a comprehensive account of how veterans' care and benefits are being impacted following sweeping cuts, mass firings, arbitrary staffing caps, and draconian workforce policies, including the hiring freeze, deferred resignation program, return-to-office mandates, and the end of collective bargaining agreements. Referencing firsthand testimony from VA employees, the report depicts how these cuts have driven doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, and claims processors out of the agency.

Blumenthal's report also details the Trump Administration's continued lack of transparency and false savings claims around its cancellation of thousands of contracts providing services to veterans and supporting VA operations; withholding of funding for programs serving homeless veterans; reinstatement of a near-total abortion ban for veterans and their loved ones; gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which helped protect veterans and servicemembers from fraud; and the impact of Republicans' cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits from the Affordable Care Act on veterans. The report emphasizes how transparency and accountability from VA have sharply declined under the Trump Administration, with delayed and distorted communication from Trump Administration officials to Congress, veterans, and the public.

The report details the following key findings, underscoring the harm of the Trump Administration's draconian policies on veterans and VA:

• Historic loss of staff: VA lost more than 40,000 employees in fiscal year 2025. 88 percent of those who left the Department were health care staff, including doctors, nurses, mental health clinicians, and other frontline employees. Fiscal year 2025 also marks the first annual net loss of staff in VA history.
• Health care staffing shortage crisis: The Department lost 1,000 physicians, 1,500 schedulers, and 3,000 registered nurses in fiscal year 2025-positions already hard to recruit before the second Trump Administration. The loss of physicians alone means an estimated 1.2 million veteran patients have lost their VA provider since Trump took office. Clinics are cancelling appointments because entire care teams or sole providers have left and cannot be replaced due to staffing caps and clinicians rescinding their applications due to increased instability and toxicity at the Department. Staff shortages have also left doctors and nurses servicing their own medical equipment and scheduling patient appointments. This takes time away from patient care and increases the risk of mistakes as staff take on a higher workload for roles they were never trained to occupy.
• Spiking VA mental health care wait times: As of January 6, 2026, the national mean for wait times for new patients for individual mental health appointments was more than 35 days-significantly exceeding the 20-day wait time threshold for veterans to be eligible for care in the community. Some states are reporting more than double the wait time threshold, with 40 to 60 day wait times, including Maine (61 days) and Maryland (54 days). VA mental health clinicians are leaving at alarming rates. Veterans in some regions have been limited to eight therapy sessions due to staffing shortages, regardless of medical need. At one VA outpatient clinic in California, seven of twelve mental health providers left the Department, citing return-to-office mandates. The wait time for new patients seeking mental health services at this facility is currently 134 days.
• Attacks on VA research: The Administration's workforce policies have had a disproportionate impact on VA's research enterprise, resulting in delayed enrollment in clinical trials for advanced cancers, those aimed at preventing dementia and heart disease, and predicting stroke risk.
• Plummeting morale of remaining VA employees: Remaining VA employees report exhaustion, low morale, and fear-conditions directly affecting patient care. The overall percentage of employees who would recommend VA as a good place to work has dropped, and the loss of telework was cited as a top reason for resigning from VA. After decades of working to improve VA's status as a preferred employer and increase the number of quality applicants, hiring has plummeted at unprecedented rates.
• Disruptions to benefits and claims processing: More than 4,500 Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees have left their positions and, with the hiring freeze still in effect for many VBA employees, regional offices are struggling to replace lost capabilities. Nearly half of VBA's 50 Regional Office Directors quit or retired in 2025. The loss of claims processors and support staff is slowing the processing of disability and PACT Act-related claims. Veterans report facing increased wait times on legacy claims decisions, and as of July, the number of veterans asking VA to take a second look at their claim increased by 44% because of errors claims processors made. These employees have been forced to prioritize quantity over quality to meet new, higher production quotas with fewer staff.
• 400,000 VA employees stripped of collective bargaining rights: VA Secretary Collins abruptly cancelled union contracts for 80% of VA employees, of which nearly 25% are veterans. This includes ending worker protections for mission-critical positions like mental health providers, nurses, and claims processors.
• The Trump Administration's adversarial relationship with Congress: Under this Administration, regular briefings to Congress, VSOs, and key stakeholders have been cut back or cancelled altogether on critical issues such as caregiver support and community care. In one striking example, VA denied U.S. Senator Patty Murray's (D-WA) request to host a town hall at VA on the unique needs of women veterans. VA Secretary Collins has also consistently attacked members of Congress and the media for highlighting coverage inconsistent with his claims that his policies will have "no impact" on VA care and benefits.
• False savings from the Administration's chaotic VA contract cancellations: Trump Administration officials employed a flawed AI model from DOGE to cancel approximately 2,000 contracts for veterans and VA facilities, and let another 14,000 expire without any plans for renewal or replacement services. VA falsely claimed to have saved $120.8 billion, more than the entirety of total VA contract spending in fiscal year 2024, by cancelling 445 contracts. One contract for "program management and support" was worth $84.9 million, but the Trump VA claimed its value was an astronomical $44.8 billion. In addition, at least 80 contracts the Trump Administration claimed to cancel, in order to boast about supposed "savings," were actually terminated under the previous Administration between 2021 and 2024.
• Politicization of VA: During the October 2025 federal government shutdown, the Administration continuously violated the Hatch Act, which limits political activities of federal employees to ensure government programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion and to protect federal employees from political coercion.

The full report is available HERE.