Rally today at Northport VA to protest possible cuts

Union officials are planning a rally at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Northport VA Medical Center to protest potential cutbacks there — fearing services and care for thousands of veterans on Long Island will suffer.

Union officials and a New York senator took aim Thursday at cutbacks to funding for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, including by saying that future restructuring will impact resources for veterans statewide.

Further workforce reductions to the department are part of President Donald Trump's plans to shrink the federal government, an effort being carried out by White House adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. 

"Such cuts to the VA will unquestionably harm our nation's veterans and jeopardize the lives of hard-working New Yorkers across the state," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said during a virtual news conference Thursday as she discussed cuts to the department as a whole.

The senator added that the federal agency "did not suffer from fat" in its budget, but rather "has chronically suffered from having too few resources and too few staff and too few specialists."

Gillibrand also expressed concern Thursday that benefits under the PACT Act, legislation former President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 that provides assistance to veterans impacted by burn pits and toxic substances, now are at risk.

The federal department's national office didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday. A representative of the Northport VA facility sent a link to a March 5 video from Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins in response to an inquiry.

Collins said in the video the agency's goal is to reduce the current 470,000 workforce by 15% to 2019 levels, or to 398,000 employees. He promised the changes wouldn't impact health care or benefits for veterans.

There already have been more than 2,400 job cuts to the department nationwide, according to statements the agency released last month. In addition, Collins has said nearly 600 "non-mission-critical or duplicative" agreements worth about $900 million were canceled as part of an ongoing comprehensive review of the department's 90,000 contracts.

News of further planned reductions and Collins' assertion that they won't impact veterans' benefits got pushback from about two dozen U.S. senators, nearly all Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, in a March 10 letter to Collins. 

On Thursday, union officials said the Northport VA Medical Center, which Newsday previously reported serves 100,000 veterans in the region, cannot afford to let employees go as it continues to deal with job vacancies that never have been filled.

A 2024 report by the federal department's Office of Inspector General said there are 19 occupations facing "severe" shortages at the Long Island facility.

"Cutting services is definitely going to affect a burnout for the employees, and it's going to affect the service and patient care for our veterans," Robert Dennis, union president of the American Federation of Government Employees' Local 1843, said in an interview Thursday.

He said the Northport facility employs about 1,700 people and about 600 belong to that union.

Timothy McLaughlin, who is based in Mastic Beach as a national representative for the union, said Thursday he believes any cuts to the Northport facility will make it harder for veterans to get treatment and make timely appointments.

"There's already issues with getting veterans in there. It's only going to aggravate the situation and make it worse," McLaughlin said in a phone interview.