Sending a message: Rallygoers protest changes to Veteran Affairs on D-Day in Orem
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- Rallygoers protest Veteran Affairs cuts Friday, June 6, 2025, in Orem.
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- Rallygoers protest Veteran Affairs cuts Friday, June 6, 2025, in Orem.
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- Rallygoers protest Veteran Affairs cuts Friday, June 6, 2025, in Orem.
A rally was held outside of the Orem Veterans Affairs office on D-Day on Friday to protest changes to Veterans Affairs, a federal agency that provides benefits and health care to military veterans.
Veterans and other protestors held up signs celebrating veterans and denouncing recent dismissals of VA employees and efforts to privatize VA care.
There is a “valid need” to scale back on some government spending, said event organizer Sarah McConkie of Indivisible Utah County, but she insisted United States veterans should be protected.
“Of all the places, to cut jobs or benefits for veterans? That just seems morally wrong and just not what America has ever been about,” she said. “We just wanted to say ‘Hey, we’re not OK with funding being cut, jobs being cut, resources being cut, recourses like suicide hotlines for veterans, having that reduced.”
The VA announced the dismissal of more than 2,400 probationary employees in February. Many probationary employees, though, were later reinstated following a court order.
The agency also announced the termination of 585 “non-mission critical or duplicative contracts” in March, reallocating the funds to veteran benefits.
Further cuts may be coming, as The Associated Press reported in March an internal memo sent to VA officials warned upcoming department reorganization could affect over 80,000 jobs.
However, the cuts have not impacted Orem Veterans Affairs, VA Salt Lake City spokesperson Jeremy Laird confirmed. Laird referred to a statement from Department of Veterans Affairs Press Secretary Doug Collins that said the VA has seen a 25% reduction of VA’s disability claims backlog since President Donald Trump took office and that the department is processing a record amount of disability claims.
“Imagine how much better off veterans would be if VA’s critics cared as much about fixing the department as they do about protecting its broken bureaucracy,” Collins said. “The Biden Administration’s VA failed to address nearly all of the department’s most serious problems, such as rising health care, wait times, growing backlogs of veterans waiting for disability compensation, and major issues with survivor benefits.”
McConkie said that uncertainty continues to simmer, though.
“Here at the (Orem) clinic, I spoke to their administration, they said so far their clinic is doing alright but they just live in uncertainty knowing that any day people could be fired by email at any time,” she said. “Trying to get veterans the care they need already, it’s a system, it’s a strain, and with that kind of uncertainty and cuts it’s just adding more stress to an already big and important program that should not be having to deal with that.”
Republicans presented a new spending bill for Veterans Affairs last week that includes an $83 billion increase in funding, with much of the funds going toward medical and disability payments.
According to Military.com, the proposed bill would give a boost to the community care program that allows veterans to see private doctors using VA funds and restrict gender-affirming health care for veterans.
In an email promoting the rally, event organizers from Indivisible Utah Count denounced the privatization of VA health care and advocated for the Veterans Health Care Guarantee Act.
