Outgoing VA chief meets with Trump's 'very serious' transition team to discuss budget shortfall, other issues

The Veterans Affairs Department is responding to more than 150 requests for information from President-elect Trump’s team and is cautioning his representatives deployed to the agency about an ongoing budget and staffing shortfall. 

VA Secretary Denis McDonough met with Trump’s agency review team this week, he told reporters on Wednesday, which he said led to a “great conversation.” He said Trump had a “very serious team coming in” and he was committed to making their transition completely seamless. To date, he said, VA has provided 22 briefings and completed 74 of the requests for information. 

“We’re responding to every question quickly and transparently and we’re sharing everything we know with the transition team,” McDonough said, adding his team will “make sure they have the tools they need to hit the ground running on day one.”

The briefings have concerned department operations, risks and opportunities, he added, and broached subjects including the budget, electronic health records, physical infrastructure and staffing.  

McDonough said he has particularly stressed VA’s budget shortfall, noting he wants Trump’s team to be prepared for the upcoming debate when the current stopgap government funding bill expires in March. VA has told lawmakers it requires $6.6 billion in additional funds to meet its needs in fiscal 2025, down from the $12 billion it originally requested. Congress approved $3 billion in emergency spending for VA last year, though VA did not end up requiring the money. 

VA officials have said demands on the department are growing as the number of veterans receiving care from its providers has exceeded expectations, requiring more health care staffing. 

McDonough noted VA has been restricting hiring at health care facilities since last year after record hiring in fiscal 2023. 

Local facility leaders have been “making very concerted decisions about when, where and whom to hire,” McDonough said, adding they are also delaying equipment purchases. Under the current continuing resolution, those officials are “continuing several of those steps.” Veterans Health Administration staffing remained flat in fiscal 2024 despite an increased workload as more veterans became eligible for care, which he said was made possible by increased productivity and referrals to private sector care.

The secretary emphasized that VA has set new records for appointments in each of his years at the department, in part because it is doing well retaining staff. He noted VA is still short of its needs for counseling to help certain veterans with job training and education, and remains concerned about the “stubborn” and “maddening” time it takes to hire new employees. 

Ultimately, however, McDonough said he is confident that the Trump administration will enter office with an adequate cadre of VA employees. The proof, he said, is in the data, as satisfaction with VA care and other performance metrics have continued to tick up. 

Still, VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher identified the budget shortfall as her top concern for the department as it prepares to hand over the keys to the Trump administration. 

“Operating on a CR is definitely not ideal,” Bradsher said Wednesday. “So hopefully our staff will be able to…make sure that the shortfalls that we're currently looking at are identified. I think that that will be job one of the new administration.”

Trump’s VA Secretary-designate Doug Collins will face a confirmation hearing next week. Collins, a veteran and former Republican congressman from Georgia, has been meeting with senators in recent days, including with Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on Wednesday. 

Collins has hinted he would like to expand private sector care for veterans and bring back efforts to expedite the firing of malfeasant VA employees. At least one veterans group, AMVETS, has endorsed his candidacy, saying Collins has “committed to safeguarding veterans’ benefits and addressing the VA’s key issues.”

Blumenthal said he will wait to hear what Collins has to say at his confirmation hearing. 

“I made clear to Doug Collins that VA needs a leader who is willing to protect and expand the health care and benefits our veterans have earned,” Blumenthal said. “That means strongly supporting VA employees, continuing to implement the PACT Act for toxic-exposed veterans and their families, and utilizing every resource possible to combat veteran suicide. It also means not pursuing harmful policies to privatize VA or strip away veterans’ reproductive rights.”