VA wants hiring freeze exemptions for 300,000 roles
In a memo signed on Jan. 21, a day after Trump instituted a governmentwide halt to new hiring — albeit with exemptions for immigration enforcement, national security or public safety — acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter detailed more than 304,000 roles across 35 occupational series that the department would be requesting for hiring exemptions.
“VA remains committed to being deliberative in the hiring actions taken to ensure we is postured for success as we implement overall modernization efforts and reform plans in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget,” he said. “To this end, prior to authorizing recruitment for vacant positions, VA leaders must certify that actions are aligned with VA goals, priorities, and modernization plans and support the more efficient and effective delivery of services to Veterans.”
Hunter went on to detail that VA health care positions would be exempted as a public safety need, that the department would be working with the Office of Personnel Management to request exemptions for veterans benefits positions and that any other exemptions must be first submitted to the chief of staff for Veterans Affairs for approval.
The VA’s exemptions list has been anticipated since the hiring freeze was first announced, in part because it mirrors the first Trump administration’s 2017 hiring freeze, where the department designated around 100 occupational series as part of its exemption request. That freeze saw continued hiring for doctors and nurses, but a moratorium on support and administrative staff positions. Tuesday’s memo reflects a similar move, as many of the exempted occupational series were tied to medical roles.
The current hiring freeze guidance from OPM also provides flexibility to exempt positions providing benefits, whether it be the VA or other programs like Social Security and Medicare. Meanwhile, the Defense Department will exempt roughly 750,000 roles for national security needs.
VA Secretary-designate Doug Collins told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Tuesday that while he may request hiring exemptions for VA benefits positions, he was also examining how the freeze best applied to the department.
Collins has also expressed support for the VA’s community care program, which pays for veterans to receive private care, and said it could continue to be leveraged alongside the department’s own health care network.
The VA hiring exemption list comes at a critical time for the department, which ramped up recruiting efforts in recent years. VA officials hired 61,000 new employees in fiscal 2023, in part to address the expanded veteran benefit claims eligibility resulting from the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
However, those gains quickly came up against budget headwinds in fiscal 2024, as several VA medical centers began taking cost-cutting measures and limiting new hiring.
The department is also seeking funding to cover a $6.6 billion budget shortfall for fiscal 2025 as it awaits a full-year appropriations package from Congress.
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