There’s something fundamentally amoral about taking from military veterans and their families to give to the super rich. What I mean is:
- the arbitrary forcing out of VA staff including many veterans,
- plans to target VA disability pensions,
- plans to outsource veterans’ care and
- proposed cuts to federal contracts for veterans’ services
The first three bullet points are a part of the Project 2025 game-plan. The fourth was touted by the new Veterans Affairs Secretary, Doug Collins as reported by the Washington Post . The aim is to drastically reduce the federal budget in order to extend tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.
Many Americans are and will be hurt by the sledgehammering of the federal government. For veterans, put politely, the result may be a “four-pronged forking” — threats to jobs, disability pensions, provision of healthcare and other services.
Project 2025, which Trump disavowed during the campaign (“I have nothing to do with Project 2025”), is currently being implemented. It is approximately 36% completed according to the “Project 2025 Tracker.”
The tracker has a live header that reads “Countdown Time Until End of Term” – days, hours, minutes and seconds ticking off. (I found this both reassuring and frightening.) When you click on Department of Veterans Affairs, it shows five objectives and an overall VA completion of only 10%, meaning they’ve just barely gotten started!
Objective 3 is “Outsource more care into private facilities” (pg. 648 of project2025.org). The U.S. healthcare system which is already overwhelmed would have to accommodate veterans, many of whom have unique and complex conditions requiring specialized care. Examples include conditions associated with agent orange, burn pit, and radiological exposures, “Gulf War Syndrome,” and combined conditions of traumatic brain injury, PTSD and substance-use disorders.
Objective 5 is “Reduce disability ratings for future claims, partially reduce for existing claims” (pg. 649). To be clear, they mean reducing disability benefits for conditions related to military service, such as hearing loss, cancers attributed to toxic exposures, PTSD and so forth.
The cuts to government contracts providing for veterans services as reported in the Feb. 26 Washington Post, “cover medical services, fund cancer programs, recruit doctors and provide burial services to veterans, according to the internal VA documents.” By day’s end, sharp criticism from Sen. Richard Blumenthal and others resulted in VA pausing for “further contract reviews.”
In 2021, the U.S. ended the longest war in its history. Fewer than 1% of Americans served in the armed forces during those years. Most Americans appreciate the service and sacrifice of military veterans and their families.
Browsing the bios of the 15 wealthiest Trump appointees and nominees (some confirmed), all are billionaires and it appears none are veterans. They had other priorities earlier in life. But like the vast majority of Americans who also did not serve, they should share our deep appreciation for the sacrifices of veterans and their families.
Words and sentiments – “Thank you for your service” – ring hollow when not backed by actions. Taking pensions, benefits, services and jobs from veterans is abhorrent. What we’re seeing is taking pensions, benefits, services and jobs from veterans is abhorrent.
Robin Gilmartin of West Hartford is a retiree from VACT Healthcare.