HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — During the first 100 days of the current Trump administration, slashing the size of the federal government has been a top priority, potentially affecting thousands of government employees in the Hampton Roads area.
Watch previous coverage: Hampton VA Medical Center confirms employees let go as Trump admin makes cuts
Lashavia Prather, who was laid off at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Hampton, expressed her frustration, saying, "I feel like they just did one of those 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' things and just whatever name it landed on, that's who they sent the email out to."
Prather worked as a secretary at the hospital for about 10 months before her job was cut in February, emphasizing the importance of behind-the-scenes roles: "Not only do you need nurses and physicians, you also need individuals to be behind the scenes."
As a military veteran, Prather joins many across the country seeking new jobs due to cuts tied to the new Department of Government Efficiency. Sultan Camp, who works at the Hampton Roads Veterans Employment Center, noted an uptick in calls from recently laid-off government workers. Some are worried about the possibility of more cuts. In a military-heavy area like southeastern Virginia, the impact could be significant.
Dr. Bob McNab, chair of the economics department at Norfolk's Old Dominion University, explained, "We are trying to project a future that is not only uncertain by the end of the year, it's uncertain by the end of the month."
McNab highlighted the educational qualifications of government workers, stating, "So, when a federal government employee is laid off, it requires 1.6 workers to produce the same amount of income to the local economy."
He warned that losing staff on such a large scale would ripple through services on which many depend.
"If you're a veteran seeking care, and the Veterans Administration cuts 80,000 employees, by definition, your wait times are going to increase and the quality of your care when you finally get it is probably going to decline," McNab added.
About a month after receiving her pink slip, Prather was allowed to return to her job. However, uncertainty remains. She said, "Even though we were allowed to come back, to me, it's still too many questions and not enough answers" about the road ahead.
In response, the Department of Veterans Affairs released this statement to WTKR News 3:
"As we reform VA, we are guided by the fact that even though the Biden Administration astronomically grew the department’s budget and number of employees, VA wait times and backlogs increased. We are doing things differently. Our goal is to increase productivity, eliminate waste and bureaucracy, increase efficiency, and improve health care and benefits to Veterans. We will accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to Veterans or VA beneficiaries.
"We’re conducting a comprehensive, data-driven review of all agencies and processes within the department with the goal of fixing the problems that have kept VA on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list. We’re going to maintain VA’s mission-essential jobs like doctors, nurses and claims processors, while phasing out non-mission essential roles like DEI officers. The savings we achieve will be redirected to Veteran health care and benefits.
"Our goal is to reduce the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions to 2019 levels – roughly 398,000 employees – down from roughly 470,000 employees currently, which is about a 15 percent decrease. But those staff changes have not happened yet."
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