TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Protests continued outside of Tucson's Veterans Affairs Hospital Friday morning. This comes after the Department of Veterans Affairs announced by the end of this year, 30,000 people in the workforce will no longer have jobs.
The number of job cuts was 80,000, but a press release explained that the need for large-scale cuts was reduced, crediting early retirements, a federal hiring freeze, and deferred resignations.
RELATED STORY | Veterans rally outside VA against proposed staffing cuts
Despite the VA scaling back on DOGE-driven cuts, veterans protesting in front of the Tucson VA Hospital say there shouldn't be any cuts whatsoever.
"We want the VA Hospital fully funded, fully staffed, no job cuts," said William Petersen, a member of the group Veterans for Peace.
This was the group's first protest following the update on job cuts. Some protesters drove from Amado to attend the early morning rally.
“It's about a 45-minute drive to here,” said Patrick Hudson. "It seems like a little, but everything means something.”
Organizers also stood in support of those working at the VA Hospital in Tucson.
"These people coming in line right here are the heroes in this thing," said Petersen. "They're the ones that go in there and do work every day, and we support them 150%."
The protesters who spoke with KGUN 9 described the care they receive as exceptional, and that was something they didn't want to see change. Still, they say they've noticed a shift after job cuts were announced.
“They're making ends work but there's a stress factor being shown,” said Cara Bissell.
The Department of Veterans Affairs shared the following in a press release on July 7:
"VA has multiple safeguards in place to ensure these staff reductions do not impact Veteran care or benefits. All VA mission-critical positions are exempt from the DRP (Deferred Resignation Program) and VERA (Voluntary Early Retirement Authority), and more than 350,000 positions are exempt from the federal hiring freeze."
For now, the group plans to continue protesting every Friday against the expected job cuts.
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
