Trump’s administration closed the Veterans Department unit created under President Joe Biden to resolve the disparity in how the federal government provides compensation for military service members.
The closure of veterans benefits the capital administration effectively impedes the internal efforts in the investigation and elimination of perennial racial inequalities that the department itself recognized.
The Trump Administration Administration Management was eliminated as part of the Trump administration’s cleaning programs aimed at solving diversity, justice and inclusion, according to emites obtained by Propublica. But several VA sources said the office was not focused solely on races, and that it requires cases for a number of veterans to make sure that no one is denied due benefits – including for reasons, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation and geographical position.
Res. Mark Takano, the California Democrat, criticized the Trump administration as “excessive” and “reckless”.
“The closure of the CES will undoubtedly have a catastrophic impact on the help we offer veterans,” Takano, a former chairman of the House of Representatives, said in a propublica statement. “This office facilitates minority veterans and help. His closure will directly affect the care and benefits obtained by minority veterans.”
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Richard Brookshire, co -founder of the Black Veteran project, a non -profit organization focused on discrimination that black veterans have repeated the problems of Takan.
“This is the first step to squeeze the second-largest agency in our federal government,” he said. “The consequences will be terrible, wide and deadly.”
VA press -secretary Peter Kasrovich refused to say whether the agency would continue to study racial disproportions. But he stressed in the statement that the recently established Secretary of VA Douglas Collins “refers to all veterans and beneficiaries right and equally, so the capital department is no longer needed.”
He added: “The money saved by the closure of the office will be redirected to improve medical care, benefits and services for the veterans that we treat fairly and equally. VA will always fulfill their duty to provide veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”
VA has grown significantly in the Biden administration, with tens of thousands of employees added capacity in combination with the adoption of the law on pact. The law of 2022 expanded medical care and benefits for approximately 3.5 million veterans, which are exposed to toxic substances from burns and other chemicals.
The Biden administration also created the CES and a number of other initiatives that help to analyze and correct discrimination in the provision of medical care, assistance and other services. These steps were regarded as a direct response to the long -standing complaints of minority veterans.
The closure of the CES is just one of several devastating staff cuts in recent weeks. About 2,400 VA staff lost their positions as Trump’s administration began to cut down the federal labor with much more shooting.
Currently, the department has about 470,000 workers. Kasrovich stated that the administration’s plans to drop almost 15% of his workforce, decreasing to approximately 398,000.
Employees assigned to the CES were informed on February 14 by e -mail that their positions were immediately stopped and that the office was “eliminated”. The notifications were sent to almost all office employees, effectively dissolving the unit, sources familiar with shooters, propublica reported.
The administration canceled at least some endings later this month, according to the Propublica correspondence. Now the workers who were tied to the CES have been placed on an administrative vacation before possible in or other federal department, sources familiar with the Department, who acted with the condition of anonymity, fearing revenge.
“But even if they are redefined, it will not be for the CES,” said one of the officials familiar with movements. “It has definitely disappeared.”
Black veterans and their supporters have long complained about the gap in how the claims are being considered. A permanent lawsuit filed by the National Council of Veterans for Legal Recovery against the Government gave suspicion a new life.
The group’s case was backed up by the data revealed through the requests for the Law on Freedom of Information from the Black Veterans project, which found that VA is much more likely to reject the statements related to services than their white colleagues.
The federal government’s lawyers asked the judge who controls the lawsuit to dismiss the lawsuits, saying that only the VA secretary had a jurisdiction to decide on the dispute over receipt and that there was not enough jurisdiction to hear them.
Report on the U. US Government’s Accountability It also came to the conclusion that there were differences. The department has found that the department approved compensation for disability -related services such as hearing loss, limb movement and post -traumatic stress from black veterans with less pace than veterans other races.
The report found that between 2010 and 2020, the approval speed made by veterans of white men was 3% to 22% higher than veterans of black men for selected medical conditions.
Sezum about the AEA is only one part of the permanent lapel of racial capital programs, which the Trump administration called “radical and wasteful”.
Ever since Trump has entered the office, a web page, which details the work of VA to solve justice and diversity, has been cleaned from its site. In January, the administration fired heads of internal consulting groups created to solve problems and needs of minority and women veterans.
One of these groups, the minority veterans center, worked in conjunction with the CES to resolve the racial disputes in disability compensation. Between 2013 and 2018, the Advisory Group expressed concern about the smaller rate of Black veterans, and is approved five times in the VA leadership, reports the National Council of Veterans on Legal Sir.
Last week, Mariela Rock, a former Republican Congress, has taken the post of director of the Advisory Group. It is unclear what specific strategies will be engaged in the group to promote the needs and problems of the minority veterans under the new leadership. Roca did not respond to a comment request.
