December 30, 2025

Ranking Member Takano and Veterans’ Affairs Democrats Wrap Up 2025

Committee Democrats Stand Up Against Attacks on Veteran Benefits, VA Staff, Critical Services

WASHINGTON—This year, Ranking Member Mark Takano and Committee Democrats confronted a pattern of actions by the Trump administration that weakened and undermine the health and economic security of veterans and their families. These actions did not always appear as direct cuts, but were implemented through internal policy revisions, staffing decisions, and administrative delays that reduced VA’s capacity to deliver timely care and benefits. Committee Democrats focused on exposing these actions, holding 10 roundtables to speak directly with veterans, sending nearly 30 letters to hold VA accountable, while maintaining oversight, and ensuring veterans’ voices were heard.

Throughout the year, the Trump administration attacked VA staff and instigated a VA staffing shortage, jeopardizing VA’s ability to effectively deliver crucial benefits and services to veterans and their families. VHA facilities reported a total of 4,434 severe occupational staffing shortages—a 50 percent increase from fiscal year 2024. The Trump administration targeted unions that represent 350,000 VA employees, which are crucial to ensuring accountability and improving both the worker and patient experience at VA, by terminating union contracts and dismantling collective bargaining rights for VA employees. In February, VA Secretary Doug Collins ordered the mass firing of over 2,400 VA employees and refused House Democrats’ request for transparency and an explanation for the mass termination. After the Democratic outcry, and a series of court rulings finding the terminations illegal, VA brought back these fired employees from what would have amounted to the largest VA staff cuts in history. However, just this month, VA relaunched its attack on VA staff, announcing its plans to cut as many as 35,000 healthcare positions, a change that threatens to further exacerbate VA’s staffing shortages and undermine veterans’ access to care.

As the Trump administration targeted VA staff, it cut vital VA programs that veterans rely on, including ending the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase Program (VASP), a VA program that helped veterans experiencing severe financial hardship avoid foreclosure while saving the government money, and removing male breast cancer from the list of presumptive conditions covered under the PACT Act. Additionally, beginning in August, VA failed to pay required education benefits on time to more than 75,000 veterans, their families, and survivors for the fall semester. Worse, VA hid the problem and refused to communicate with the impacted beneficiaries, who were left not knowing if or when vital payments would arrive. VA chose to ignore inquiries from Democratic Members of the Committee and canceled, without notice, an October 1st briefing about issues delivering these educational benefits. It wasn’t until December, four months after the issue began, that VA finally held a briefing and acknowledged it never informed Congress or the public of this issue impacting 75,000 beneficiaries.

To add insult to injury, Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill ended ACA subsidies, which over a million veterans rely on to afford healthcare, while increasing national debt by $2.3 trillion. Throughout the year, Democrats faced an unprecedented level of partisanship and lack of communication from VA leadership. Secretary Collins kept Democrats in the dark, failing to meet one-on-one with Ranking Member Takano and breaking a history of bipartisan cooperation on veterans’ issues.

While Republicans planned a partisan hearing schedule that ignored many important veterans’ issues, Committee Democrats hosted 10 roundtables with veterans, VA employees, and policy experts. These roundtables brought light to issues overlooked by the Republican-led Committee, including the disparities in care and benefits for minority veterans, the effects of private equity on veteran healthcare, the justice systems treatment of veterans, the vulnerabilities to veteran data privacy posed by DOGE’s unchecked access to VA data, Area 51 veterans’ struggles to access care for illnesses and cancers caused by toxic exposure at nuclear testing ranges, and the housing crisis faced by many veterans.

This year, Ranking Member Takano also defended the PACT Act against politically motivated attacks led by the Trump administration. Since the PACT Act’s enactment in 2022, nearly two million claims have been approved, expanding healthcare to millions of veterans. Yet, ignoring scientific evidence and the intent of Congress, Secretary Collins’ VA removed male breast cancer from the list of presumptive conditions covered under the PACT Act. Redefining who qualifies for care based on ideology sets a dangerous precedent for future benefit decisions that could strip veterans of lifesaving healthcare. Despite Republican efforts to limit coverage, Ranking Member Takano continued to advocate for the expansion of the PACT Act and hosted multiple meetings to learn more about injuries and illnesses not currently covered by the Act.

In October, Republicans, who control the House, Senate, and White House, failed to pass a bipartisan Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government. Republicans’ unwillingness to negotiate with Democrats on preserving Americans’ access to affordable healthcare triggered the longest government shutdown in history that lasted 43 days, breaking the past record of 35 days held by the first Trump administration. The shutdown caused immense financial pain to Americans who rely on essential government benefits and services, including 1.2 million veterans who rely on SNAP benefits.

In November, House Republicans passed a partisan CR that does little to support veterans. The CR failed to include advanced funding for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund (COWTEF) for fiscal year 2027, which previously garnered bipartisan support in every appropriation measure since the PACT Act became law. COWTEF is crucial to covering the true cost of war by providing funding for veterans’ healthcare, toxic exposure research, and PACT Act claims processing. House Republicans rejected all five amendments offered by Ranking Member Mark Takano, which would have expanded and protected veteran benefits and strengthened VA’s operational effectiveness.

Heading into 2026, Democrats on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee remain committed to improving veterans’ care and benefits, to pushing back against Republican attempts to cut VA services and staff, and to engaging directly with the veterans’ community.

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