VA Secretary warns more staff to be furloughed if shutdown continues

VA Secretary warns more staff to be furloughed if shutdown continues

VA Secretary Doug Collins said the VA will have to furlough more staff from VA’s central office next week if the shutdown continues.

Michele Sandiford

October 23, 2025 2:49 pm

< a min read

• The vast majority of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs keep working during a government shutdown. But in a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), VA Secretary Doug Collins said more than 30,000 of the department’s employees have been furloughed. That’s about double what the VA outlined in its latest contingency plans. Collins said the VA will have to furlough more staff from VA’s central office next week if the shutdown continues. He’s calling on Democratic lawmakers to pass a stopgap spending bill to end the shutdown.
• The SBA is suspending a small business in the 8(a) program over allegations of fraud. ATI Government Solutions, an 8(a) firm located in Arlington, Virginia and Susanville, California, and three of its executives are facing charges of defrauding the SBA’s 8(a) program. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelley Loeffler posted on X yesterday that the agency is suspending the company and three leaders from doing any new business with the government while they are under investigation. The charges of fraud came after right-wing political activist James O’Keefe released video of him talking to an ATI executive about how the company acts as a pass-through to larger firms. An email and phone call to ATI seeking comment were not returned. ATI won more than $140 million in federal contracts in fiscal 2025.
• The Office of Management and Budget is expediting regulatory reviews of what it calls deregulatory actions that are executed with factual records and those that are facially unlawful rules. In a new memo, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs will set for itself a maximum 28-day review period for deregulatory actions that are executed with factual records. It is also setting a 14-day turnaround for those rules that agencies believe are facially unlawful. OMB says these new requirements will bolster and speed up efforts to reduce regulations across government.
• Democrats are proposing an alternative to a GOP bill on paying federal employees. The Shutdown Fairness Act from Republicans would immediately pay federal employees who are working through the government shutdown, but not being paid. The bill is heading toward a possible vote in the Senate this week. But Democrats are now assembling a counterproposal that would also include compensation for furloughed employees who are also not being paid. The lawmakers say they’re looking for an “even-handed” approach to the pay issue.

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• Federal employees and annuitants who were insured by the National Association of Letter Carriers will have to look for a new health insurance provider. NALC is pulling its two nationwide plans out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program for 2026. The health carrier’s exit from FEHB will impact roughly 19,000 enrollees. Those individuals can look for a different option during the upcoming Open Season, which starts November 10th. If enrollees take no action, they will be auto-enrolled in the lowest-cost nationwide PPO plan.
• Some federal employees are getting their second layoff notice this year after their agencies brought them back to their jobs. An employee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells a federal court she received a RIF notice this month after being laid off and reinstated earlier this year. An employee of the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency says the same thing happened to her. A third employee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development says she got her RIF notice while on maternity leave. A fourth employee at the Education Department was also laid off. She’s blind and not yet at retirement age, and unsure if she’ll be able to find a new job.
• President Donald Trump has tapped a top university leader for a key Commerce Department post. Trump earlier this month nominated Arvind Raman to serve as the next director at the National Institute of Science and Technology. Raman is currently dean of engineering at Purdue University. He’s known for his research on vibrations and nonlinear dynamics. NIST has faced some cuts under the Trump administration, but still plays a key role in the administration’s ambitious artificial intelligence agenda.
• Members of an influential cybersecurity commission said they’re watching progress stall out on some of its key recommendations. The Cyberspace Solarium Commission said the Trump administration’s cyber workforce cuts have backtracked on some of the commission’s most critical recommendations. In its latest annual report, the commission urged the administration to reverse staffing and funding cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The commission also said it should bolster the State Department’s cyber diplomacy efforts – which it said have been hampered by State’s recent reorganization. The commission is urging the Congress to boost the authorities of the Office of the National Cyber Director to oversee federal cyber budgets.

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