{"id":31533,"date":"2025-02-19T16:32:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T16:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/02\/19\/va-leadership-nominee-grilled-over-recent-department-layoffs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:45:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:45:48","slug":"va-leadership-nominee-grilled-over-recent-department-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2025\/02\/19\/va-leadership-nominee-grilled-over-recent-department-layoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"VA leadership nominee grilled over recent department layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary nominee Paul Lawrence<\/a> faced harsh questioning from Democrats during his confirmation hearing Wednesday not for his plans for future reforms within the department but instead for changes being put in place before he gets there.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers lashed out at Lawrence, in line to be the second-highest ranking official at VA, for his lack of insight and outrage over the recent dismissal of more than 1,000 department workers<\/a> as part of government-wide efforts to trim the federal workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VA officials have insisted that the moves won\u2019t hurt veterans\u2019 benefits or medical care options. But Democratic lawmakers <\/a>on the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee called the firings arbitrary and reckless, and questioned whether White House officials considered the long-term impact of those moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just making stuff up, telling the public things that then later turn out not to be true,\u201d said Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H. \u201cThey\u2019re not thinking through how their actions will actually affect veterans. And I\u2019m concerned that this reckless pattern of decision-making will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t