Trump’s Indiscriminate, Haphazard Policies Are Once Again Hurting Americans
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a virtual press conference to highlight a Trump administration policy that is making it harder for veterans to receive mental health care.
On his first day in office, President Trump issued a memo demanding that federal employees return to in-person work. The order included VA mental health professionals, who often worked remotely as a way to reach patients in isolated rural areas. As a result, many VA psychiatrists and therapists are now forced to conduct sensitive telehealth appointments from crowded offices, compromising patient privacy and potentially violating ethics regulations and professional mental health care standards. Trump has additionally paused hiring for critical positions that support veteran mental health, including suicide crisis hotline responders, and plans to fire 80,000 VA staff by the end of the year. Gillibrand sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins urging him to work with President Trump to reevaluate return to office policies and ensure that veterans’ needs are being met.
“Veterans in need of mental health care deserve easily accessible treatment from qualified professionals with a guarantee of confidentiality. President Trump is making care harder to access, firing or otherwise driving off VA psychiatrists and therapists, and potentially violating privacy regulations,” said Senator Gillibrand. “We owe better to the people who have served our country. President Trump must reevaluate his poorly considered return to office order and implement policies that are in the best interests of our veterans and those who serve them.”
The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins is available here or below:
Dear Secretary Collins,
I write to ask that you take immediate steps to reverse the damage caused to the provision of mental health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) due to the Trump Administration’s return to office order, which has jeopardized the ability for veterans to receive quality and confidential care. I also ask that you work to reverse the impact of cuts to the VA led by Elon Musk’s so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) which has reduced the number of support staff, exacerbating the VA’s ability to provide care to some of the most vulnerable populations of veterans, including those in need of the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), and sown chaos and confusion among veterans in need of care and VA staff alike.
As you know, on January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration issued memoranda to all agency and department heads to ‘terminate remote work arrangements’, allowing agencies and departments to make exemptions when necessary. Public reporting has shown that this policy change has now forced psychiatrists and other mental health professionals at the VA back to crowded work stations, forcing them to carry out therapy and other mental health services for veterans without the guarantee of privacy for their patients, potentially in violation of professional mental health care standards. This return to office order only increases the mental and emotional burden on veterans seeking care, who may require months or even years to develop a relationship with their mental health provider to privately discuss their conditions. Like any other patient, if our veterans feel that they cannot privately receive treatment, then they may withdraw from treatment altogether.
Further, inhibiting the ability for mental health providers to carry out their duty to veterans – and moving them to work stations miles away – will only hurt our ability to retain these providers, at the expense of veterans in need of care. While the VA has made the correct decision in allowing VCL employees to continue remote work, Congress is also aware that cuts to probationary employees by DOGE have also led to the firing of some VCL staff tasked with responding to veterans suffering from a mental health crisis.
These changes by the Administration and Elon Musk have led to growing fear and anxiety among veterans and their families that they will not receive quality, timely, and private care. I urge you to work with President Trump to ensure that this chaos and confusion is remedied immediately.
Sincerely,
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