The Marion Veteran Affairs Health Care System has responded to last week’s inquiry from the Daily Egyptian, confirming that some probationary staff have been fired from their positions here in southern Illinois.

“The Marion VA Health Care System has dismissed a small number of probationary staff,” the VA said in a statement to the DE. “This decision will have no negative effect on veteran health care, benefits or other services and will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”

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The VA statement added that, due to privacy concerns, it cannot disclose specific personnel matters, so it is still unclear exactly how many people were fired and what exactly their roles were.

On Thursday, Feb. 13, the United States government announced the firing of more than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees across the country, which, at the time, had left southern Illinoisans unsure if employees at their local clinics would be affected. 

The nationwide firings announced by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins are part of a Trump administration effort to cut costs and limit spending within federal agencies, including those in the Department of Education, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, the National Park Service and many others. 

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House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost, a Republican from Murphysboro who represents Illinois’ 12th District, released a statement last week saying that he trusts the cutting actions that Collins’ and Trump have taken.

Since the announcement, however, many members of Congress have openly opposed the firing of VA employees, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic U.S. senator and combat veteran serving Illinois.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Feb. 19, Duckworth announced that she had joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, along with 34 other Democratic senators in writing a letter that demands Collins reinstate the fired VA employees. 

“Last week, we were outraged by the Administration’s abrupt and indiscriminate termination of tens of thousands of workers across almost every government agency, including more than 1,000 VA employees,” wrote the senators in the letter to Collins. “We were further disturbed by the manner in which you (Collins) publicly celebrated this reprehensible announcement – a clear departure from the assurances provided throughout your confirmation process to never ‘balance budgets on the back of veterans’ benefits’ and to always ‘put the veteran first.’ Not only will this latest action put veterans’ care and benefits at risk, but it further confuses, demoralizes, and threatens a VA workforce we need to fulfill our nation’s sacred promise to our veterans and their families who have already sacrificed so much…

“Because probationary employees tend to be younger, many of them represented the next generation of VA employees – talented men and women who chose a long-term career path of serving veterans. VA already invested in recruiting and training these individuals because veterans deserve the very best staff possible…

“With the best interests of veterans in mind,” continued the letter, “and to ensure VA is capable of carrying out its sacred obligation on behalf of veterans, we urge you to immediately reinstate all of the employees dismissed in the latest indiscriminate terminations and commit to VA employees and veterans that no additional widespread terminations will occur without advanced notification to Congress, a detailed justification, coordination with service-level leadership, and an appropriate assessment of potential impacts on veterans’ health care and benefits.”

Duckworth and members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs followed up this letter on Thursday with an additional plea to the Trump administration, asking that he and “unelected billionaire Elon Musk” immediately restart operations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – another federal agency that has seen cuts from Trump and team. 

In their follow-up letter to both Collins and U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Duckworth specifically set out to sound the alarm about the impacts that dismantling the agency would have on veterans and servicemembers. 

Since the firings, Bost has announced that he will host a “telephone town hall” on Feb. 24 where he will look to hear from southern Illinoisans and tackle what he says are “some of the biggest challenges facing our country.” 

If you would like to participate in that, you can sign up at https://bost.house.gov/participate.

If you or anyone you know has been affected by the recent firings within the Marion VA Health Care System, please email jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com. 

Bost has not yet responded to requests for further comment on the firings. 

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