VA registered nurses with National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) – along with veterans groups, federal unions, and community members – urged the public to join in their efforts to protect federal workers and veterans health care at the VA during a town hall meeting in Augusta, Ga., on Thursday.

“The current administration is trying to pull the rug out from under our siblings, rob our federal workers of their collective bargaining rights, and cut staffing and services for our veterans,” said Mary Turner, a registered nurse and NNU president. “But there is nothing stronger on earth than a nurse who is advocating for her patients. So we come together, it doesn’t matter where you’re from whether it be Georgia or California, or Minnesota because we are all of one mind, because we are union.”

“I am so pleased that people from all walks of life showed up at this town hall to stand with us as we fight back against this administration’s policies that threaten the very existence of the VA,” said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse at the Charles Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Ga., and the chair of NNU’s VA Division. “There is a group of rich and powerful people in Washington, D.C. who want nothing more than to get their hands on billions of taxpayer dollars so they can put that money into the pockets of health care giants instead of into the care of those who served our country. Nurses, federal workers, and veterans are saying ‘Absolutely not!’ and we need everyone to join us to save the VA.”

Speakers discussed the chaos induced by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump administration on the federal workforce, including illegal terminations, efforts to strip federal workers of their union rights, and deep, frequently incapacitating, budget cuts to critical government agencies.

“We have seen an out-of-control authoritarian administration that is hell-bent on slashing services for our most vulnerable communities, including our veterans and seniors,” said Rep. Delia Catalina Ramirez (D-Ill.) and a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in a videotaped message. “In the House VA committee, we have heard first hand the devastation these cuts are already having on veterans services and rural clinics and hospitals.”

“In these challenging times, where foundational American principles are being threatened, it is more important than ever that we work together to protect the VA and its workforce,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs as he thanked nurses for their service in videotaped remarks. 

“The VA saved my life,” said Ed Anderson, a combat Air Force veteran and an organizer for Common Defense, a grassroots veterans group. “I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the folks on Clairmont Road [location for the Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta VA Medical Center.] So, you saved my life, and I am here to help save yours. I am going to stick with this and stick with you and all of us as we fight this battle.”

“This is not about political parties, it is not about red or blue,” said Jacob Pannell, a disabled Army veteran and national business representative with National Federation of Federal Employees. “It is about service to those who sacrificed, and to their families. The VA mission doesn’t have a party. It doesn’t have a campaign. It has a promise — to care for those who shall have borne the battle, and for their widow, and their orphan. Protecting the VA means protecting the civil servants who carry out that promise.”

“We are being asked to see more and do more but we don’t have the tools and won’t get the tools that we need,” said Tamara Reid, a speech pathologist at the Charlie Norwood VA in Augusta, Ga., and a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 217. “It is very hard to go to work everyday not knowing what is going to happen. We need everybody to be in this game together because the federal workforce is the spine of this nation.”

“Right now, Congress is moving forward a VA budget proposal that includes a multibillion dollar increase in funding for veterans seeking care outside of the VA, while cutting billions from direct VA care,” said Tamika Kendrick, a registered nurse at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Ga. “The Trump administration and VA Secretary Doug Collins are finding new and cruel ways to cut VA staff. VA nurses and other employees are feeling a sense of heaviness. We don’t know what is coming from one day to the next. What executive order is going to come out next. It’s going to affect our livelihood. Are we even going to have jobs tomorrow? We don’t know.”

The VA is planning to cut 30,000 positions by the end of the fiscal year, further degrading and understaffing VA facilities, which already have an extreme staffing crisis: The August 2024 Inspector General’s report found that 82 percent of VA facilities have severe shortages in nursing staff. Meanwhile, the number of veterans seeking care in the VA is rising exponentially.

To silence federal workers from speaking out about these detrimental policy changes and safety issues, the administration is trying to strip federal workers of their collective bargaining rights. In response, NNU, AFGE, NFFE, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE-SEIU) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU), have sued the Trump administration.

Finally, the VA is facing an existential threat: The VA’s own “Red Team” Executive Roundtable analysis reported VA spending on private-sector care rose to $30 billion in fiscal year 2023, noting that the cost of private-sector care “threaten[s] to materially erode the VA’s direct-care system and create a potential unintended consequence of eliminating choice for the millions of Veterans who prefer to use the VHA direct-care system for all or part of their medical care needs.”

Additional Resources:

• Full recording of the Augusta town hall can be found here.
• Select sound and B-roll from Augusta town hall can be found here.
• Still photos from the Augusta town hall can be found here.
• Nurses urge floor vote on Protect America’s Workforce Act, a bipartisan bill that rescinds Executive Order 1451, and restores federal workers’ fundamental collective bargaining rights.
• May 20, 2025 NNU Congressional briefing on VA affairs with Rep. Mark Takano found here.
• RESPECT for Veterans, NNU White Paper on VA care and threat of privatization, includes valuable statistics on veteran care versus private-sector care.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.