Department of Veterans Affairs leaders on Wednesday directed staff to halt a sweeping round of contract terminations in a major reversal less than a day after the VA secretary publicly celebrated the cuts, which he estimated would save the department nearly $2 billion.
"VA Leadership is reconsidering previous guidance," read a Wednesday morning email to department staff that was obtained by The Washington Post. The note ordered the pause and said that "further contract reviews will be conducted to arrive at a new final decision."
Veterans Affairs was prepared to terminate 875 contracts as part of a government-wide effort to cut costs, led by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. In announcing the moves, Secretary Douglas A. Collins on Tuesday cited as examples payments for professional services, such as executive support, coaching and training. But the contracts on the chopping block also helped cover medical services, fund cancer programs, recruit doctors and provide burial services to veterans, according to internal VA documents reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.
A VA spokesperson said Wednesday that the contract review "is ongoing and not final."
"We're reviewing VA's various contracts, and we will be canceling many focusing on non-mission critical things," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "We will not be eliminating any benefits or services to Veterans or VA beneficiaries, and there will be no negative impact to VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries."
It was not immediately clear which contracts had already been terminated and whether they would be restored.
The announcement from Collins on Tuesday drew immediate pushback from Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, who issued a statement deriding the move as "just another reckless cost-cutting decision that will harm veterans and taxpayers for years to come."
Blumenthal in an emailed statement listed contracts up for cancellation that matched those in the spreadsheet obtained by The Post, including those used to conduct outreach to veterans and their families about burial services, and to recruit doctors and other medical workers for hard-to-staff areas.
On Wednesday, he said the reversal "shows the VA in turmoil."
"It's government by whiplash," Blumenthal said in a statement. "Cancel and fire first, analyze later."
An agency spokesperson initially said that no cancellations would affect services to veterans; Collins in his announcement pledged that any cost savings resulting from the contract cancellations would be rededicated to core missions of the agency.
His video address to the public was reposted by Musk, who added: "More tax dollars saved!"
Agencies across the administration have reversed course on decisions in recent weeks after stumbling in their sprint to achieve Trump's goals, at times rehiring workers in critical positions who had been terminated or misinterpreting rules about who was eligible for a federal buyout offer, among other examples.
Among the canceled services listed in the spreadsheet was an arrangement to safely dispose of chemical waste. Another assisted clinical leadership in implementing cutting-edge cancer health systems.
A third supported environmental testing to meet the Joint Commission's safety standards. "Failure to do so may lead to facility closure and hospital acquired infections," said internal documents reviewed by The Post.
Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Rein of The Washington Post.