ATLANTA — Massive layoffs at the Veterans Administration are impacting Atlanta’s VA Health Care System as some terminated employees are asking why.
The Trump administration announced it would lay off those employees late Thursday.
We still don’t know how many VA employees are being affected by the layoffs here in the Atlanta area or what impact it will have.
The new VA Secretary is former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins. He’s saying this was a tough but necessary decision.
“We’re mistreated,” former First Sgt. Nelson Feliz said. “We’ve been betrayed.”
Feliz told Channel 2’s Richard Elliott that he was one of the many who got a “notice of termination” email, saying, “The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest.”
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“I was a first sergeant. My job was to take care of troops, making sure they were paid, fed and slept. Why is this happening to us? I’ve been here too long for this to be happening,” Feliz said.
The VA announced it would cut more than 1,000 jobs on Thursday to save $93 million a year, which would be redirected to Veterans’ health care, benefits and services.
Newly confirmed VA Secretary and former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins posted a video on Thursday denying rumors that the cuts would extend to benefits.
He said he welcomes the work of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“I’m telling you what. We’ve got DOGE representatives here that are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and that is looking at our contracts, making sure that we have the best run facility for efficiency to make sure, who? The veteran gets the care that they need,” Collins said.
It remains unclear how the cuts will affect Atlanta’s VA Health System or help it deal with problems we’ve reported on for years.
But Feliz said he knows of several people losing their jobs and they all feel blindsided.
“Why? Why do this? We call this a Pearl Harbor,” Feliz said.
Feliz did file the paperwork to retire in 2027, so he’s appealing the termination.
Elliot put in a call to the Atlanta VA Health System to ask about the impact of the cuts. They said they’d work on that but so far, he has not heard back.
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