Trump administration wants to cut 70,000 employees from the VA. Here’s how many work in KY
As part of its ongoing efforts to trim the federal workforce, Donald Trump’s administration wants to cut tens of thousands of employees from the Veterans Administration, which helps veterans access health care and other services.
The VA has been told to trim staff to 2019 levels, which would mean cutting around 70,000 employees, according to a memo cited by CNN.
The VA had 399,957 employees in 2019. The number of employees was 470,000 in October 2024, CNN reported.
The effort would turn back an expansion at the agency under President Joe Biden, and it would begin in August, the AP reported Wednesday.
It also calls for agency officials to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to align the agency with the Trump administration’s goals, the memo said.
How many VA employees does Kentucky have?
Although it’s too soon to say how those cuts will be implemented and where, thousands of Kentuckians work for the VA, federal data shows.
An estimated 6,111 people in Kentucky work for the Veterans Administration, according to analysis by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy using federal employment databases.
A December 2024 report from the Congressional Research Service showed Kentucky has 23,118 federal employees. VA employees make up more than 25% of the state’s federal workforce.
The only federal agency that employs more Kentuckians is the U.S. Army, which employs 7,380 people at places such as Fort Knox and Fort Campbell and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, federal data shows.
Those VA employees work across the state, but hundreds work in Lexington at the Franklin R. Sously campus on Leestown Road and the Troy Bowling campus on Veterans Drive on the University of Kentucky campus.
According to the Center for Economic Policy’s analysis, 5,401 of those federal VA employees work in the Veterans Health Administration. They include staff at the Lexington VA hospitals and VA medical centers in Louisville and Ft. Thomas.
Other staff work at vet centers that provide mental health services in Lexington and Louisville. There are also 19 community outpatient clinics for veterans throughout Kentucky, according to the VA website.
An additional 567 Kentuckians work for the Veterans Benefits Administration, federal data shows. Those staff help connect veterans to other types of benefits, including home loans. The Veterans Benefits Administration has offices in Fort Campbell, Louisville and Fort Knox, according to its website.
Those staff serve an estimated 270,000 Kentucky veterans, according to the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, which is separate from the federal VA administration. That’s roughly 7.2% of the state’s adult population.
What VA secretary has said about the cuts
U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins toured VA facilities in Lexington and Hazard last week.
Collins said the agency has been proactive in its response to the Trump Administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce.
“We took out over 300,000 positions and said those are off the table. We don’t even talk about those. Most of all the positions, especially if they’re forward facing with a patient, with a veteran, getting their benefits, on the crisis lines, those kinds of things, those are exempt to start with,” Collins said.
At the same time, the agency has to look at efficiencies and trimming its workforce after the agency added nearly 80,000 employees during the Biden administration, he said.
VA employees worried about possible layoffs should make sure they are exempt from cuts, Collins said.
“The first thing is they can go to their own leadership to make sure their position, especially if they’re working with areas of our patients and especially serving that mission, is to make sure that they’re properly coded in their system, that they’re exempt,” Collins said.
Collins said he has pushed back against allegations that critical services to veterans have been cut or will be cut.
As for what positions could be affected in the future, Collins said they are focusing on back-end office positions.
“We’re looking very heavily at our background, we’re looking very heavily at our central office to make sure we’re getting the best efficiency. So there are those kinds of positions that have been cut. When we’re looking at the cuts and going forward, we’re making sure that our veterans are being taken care of and that’s what I’m committed to,” Collins said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 2:06 PM.
