CLEVELAND — Outside the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, about a dozen people held signs and chanted. They said they’re protesting what’s happening inside VA facilities across the country.
“We want to show our support for all VA employees because they dedicate themselves to taking care of us Veterans,” said Tim Hauser, veteran.
According to a United States Department of Veterans Affairs memo, more than 2400 employees have been dismissed since mid-February.
“I don’t know anyone personally who has lost their job but we’ve had a lot of scared people,” said Allicia Jennings who has worked at the Cleveland VA for 27 years.
Jennings is a police dispatcher. “My father and brother are Marines,” she said.
Jennings is concerned about workers losing their jobs and the veterans they serve.
“It’s not just veterans it’s also their family members that are affected by these cuts,” Jennings explained.
According to the press release, the layoffs are part of a government-wide Trump Administration effort to make agencies more efficient and effective.
Democratic Congresswoman Shontel Brown made a brief appearance at the protest.
“They’re not finding waste, fraud and abuse in fact I would argue that Elon is a waste, that Trump is a fraud and what they’re doing to veterans is committing abuse,” said Brown.
Brown said she was heading back to Washington.
“We’re gonna fight it in Congress with legislation, we’re gonna fight it in the courts with litigation and we’re gonna fight it in the streets right here in the community,” she added.
Republican State Representative Ron Ferguson said the VA needs to be fixed and he believes that’s what the Trump Administration is trying to do.
“We have a commitment to our veterans and the VA has been broken for a long time. What we really need is some major VA reform to make sure that our veterans are getting the care they need and not having to the wait times that they’ve suffered with for years and years,” explained Ferguson.
Ferguson believes there is excess in federal government agencies that needs to be cut.
“Every dollar that you defund from the federal government you will refund to hardworking Americans and Ohioans,” Ferguson said.
