By Doug Wolfe
DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – As courts sort out whether the Trump Administration can legally fire thousands of workers without Congressional authorization protests are popping up across the nation.
Veterans are especially upset. The plans are to eliminate as many as 80,000 workers from the VA which could cripple the ability of many vets to get the healthcare they need.
“I’m very concerned about the deep cuts that are happening within the VA,” Rep. Nikki Budzinski told WAND News. “They were trying to gut the VA. This is going to negatively impact a veteran’s ability to access healthcare.”
Budzinski has 9,300 veterans in her district which covers Decatur, Champaign and Springfield. She is critical of the haphazard way the layoffs have been handled.
“These layoffs are not being done in any kind of thoughtful or strategic way,” Budzinski said from her Washington office. “We can look for efficiencies in government but these are folks that are being laid off not because of performance but just indiscriminate firings.”
