PARMA, Ohio — Veterans, their family members and other gathered outside the Parma Department of Veterans Affairs clinic Monday to protest layoffs of VA workers by the federal government. 

What You Need To Know

  • Veterans and other protesters rallied outside the Parma VA clinic

  • President Donald Trump's DOGE workforce initiative plans to lay off 80,000 VA employees

  • There are over 40 VA clinics in Ohio and 9 million veterans rely on the clinics for physical and mental health services

This protest in Parma is just one of many across the country, with demonstrators holding signs, chanting and rallying against federal layoffs of VA workers.

“There’s a possibility that this is all going to be taken away from us and we want to educate the people on what’s going on, that these are not non-essential employees that are being let go," Tim Hauser, a retired U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, said. 

President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency workforce initiative instructs the Veterans Affairs agency to cut more than 80,000 employees. Hauser is concerned about the impact that it could have on people like him. 

"We need to protect the VA. We need to take care of our veterans. We need to make sure that their benefits and services are not going to be hindered by what’s going on," said Hauser.

The Trump administration says the cuts won’t impact the health care or benefits of veterans. More than 9 million veterans rely on physical and mental health services provided by VA clinics, and there are over 40 clinics in Ohio alone. Allicia Jennings has been a VA worker for 27 years and she says potential cuts would cause further staffing issues for VA clinics and veterans to lose out on the care they need.

"We’re never fully staffed in any department, any facility," Jennings said. "You have holes, you have gaps. So if there’s delays in appointments it’s not because we don’t want to see veterans because that’s not the case. We can’t because we’re missing a radiologist here, we’re missing this type of service.”  

Fighting for care for veterans is personal for Jennings who joined the VA in 1998 after seeing both her father and brother serve in the military. She thinks that losing benefits and care provided by VA clinics due to these cuts is a disservice to those who served the country. 

“You earn these benefits," Jennings said. "You swear on the Bible to protect the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic, knowing that when you put your name on that piece of paper that you could die for your country at any minute. We promised to take care of our veterans. To sit up here and say that we can’t afford to take care of them, I mean that’s just a disservice.”

The Trump administration says these layoffs are necessary to increase efficiency and reduce the footprint within the Veterans Affairs Agency.

"We want to reform the department to fix these and other problems. VA is already redirecting billions of dollars from non-mission critical efforts to Veteran-facing services, which will result in massive improvements without cutting health care or benefits," said Pete Kasperowicz, press secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In a statement emailed to Spectrum News 1, Kasperowicz continued: "America’s Veterans deserve better than a health care system that has been at high-risk for ten years running. We have an obligation to make VA work better for the Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors we are charged with serving, and that is exactly what we will do."