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Rep. Shomari Figures is asking the Veterans Affairs secretary to provide a list of all VA employees within the state of Alabama who have been laid off or placed on leave by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
In a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Figures asked to meet with Collins by March 14 and that the list of employees be disclosed by March 7. He also noted that his office has already received reports of layoffs. According to two sources within VA facilities in Alabama, layoffs due to DOGE cuts have taken place, with more to come, and are expected to affect services provided to veterans, including increased wait times and cancelled appointments.
“It is imperative that we have a full understanding of the scale and scope of the layoffs in Alabama, as we have become aware that these layoffs have already begun to significantly affect operations,” Figures wrote in the letter to Collins. “The impact these issues are having on the quality of care and services is deeply concerning. I believe addressing this matter is critical to ensuring our veterans receive the care they deserve. These individuals have selflessly served our country, and it is our responsibility to ensure they are not burdened further by delays or service interruptions.”
According to a statement sent out by Figures’ office, there have been reports of staffing issues at facilities in Montgomery, Mobile and Tuskegee.
The cuts are part of Musk’s alleged $2 billion in cancellations of various contracts. Collins on Tuesday praised the cuts and indicated that many of the contracts were inconsequential to vital services, referring in a social post to contractors “creating PowerPoint slides and meeting minutes.”
However, a deep dive by the Associated Press – something one might expect the VA secretary to do – found that the contracts covered a wide range of services, including cancer care and the assessment of toxic exposure. Both services are vital to providing disabled veterans proper care and compensation for their injuries.
Such cuts have landed heavy in Congress, even among Republicans, which has now pressured the VA to stop slashing at DOGE’s behest and instead properly evaluate all cuts. By late Tuesday, the agency said it was performing the evaluations and that no cuts are final.
However, employees at various VA facilities around the country, including Alabama, have told media outlets that they have been laid off or told they’re on indefinite leave. Whether government officials will be forced to attempt to lure those employees back to work – as officials are attempting now with former FAA employees – in order to restore efficiency to the department is unclear.
During an interview with the Alabama Politics This Week podcast, which is available Friday, Figures said that he cannot sit idly by and watch good employees be treated so poorly.
“I think people are tired of seeing a chainsaw being used when a scalpel may be more appropriate,” Figures said. “I think people are tired of just general indecency and not showing a level of compassion for people. Like when you see things like these job cuts, even if you believe someone’s job needs to be phased out, that it’s not necessary, there’s a decent and humane way to do that. There’s a way where you give people a lead up – say, six months from now, your job won’t be here. Nine months from now, a year. We’re phasing your job out. You give them that heads up. The only departure from that should be if you’re in a situation where you are literally out of money, which that is obviously not the case.
“And so to see people who have devoted themselves, their lives to public service, get an email on a Saturday night, having been somewhere for five, 10, 15 years, and someone say, you don’t have a job on Monday morning. That’s just not, it’s not right. And I think people are seeing that level of just callousness and just cold heartedness that this administration is showing towards everyday people … and I think people are tired of that. I think they’re tired of this sort of Hollywood type of presidency, you know, just doing all of these reckless things.”
