A new report shows that, as part of the Trump administration’s DOGE mission, the Department of Veteran Affairs tried to cancel contracts that would have supported chemotherapy and other cancer treatment for veterans.
The Associated Press notes that, after being confronted over the planned cuts by lawmakers and veteran services organization, the VA announced it would temporarily halt the planned cuts.
“We’re reviewing VA’s various contracts, and we will be canceling many focusing on non-mission critical things like PowerPoint slides, executive support, and coaching,” a VA spokesperson told Gizmodo. “Our contract review is ongoing and no final decisions have been made.” He added: “We will not be eliminating any benefits or services to Veterans or VA beneficiaries, and there will be no negative impact to VA health care, benefits or beneficiaries. We are always going to take care of Veterans at VA. Period.”
When asked directly about DOGE’s role in the identified cuts, the VA did not respond. The Washington Post had previously reported that the agency targeted the contracts “as part of a government-wide effort to cut costs, led by billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service.”
Multiple news outlets have reported on the kinds of contracts that the VA was attempting to cut, including, as the AP notes, the following:
In an internal VA email sent Tuesday and seen by the AP, a VA contracting official said DOGE targeted contracts broadly categorized as “consulting” but they included ones that if terminated would halt chemotherapy and imaging services.
Other contracts that were apparently targeted for termination included those that would help properly calibrate radiation detection equipment, “support cancer care,” and, as the Post initially reported, “help cover medical services,” “recruit doctors,” and “provide burial services to veterans.”
News of the proposed cuts was quickly picked up by Democratic lawmakers, who capitalized on its godawful optics. “Every veteran has a right to be outraged that an unelected billionaire and his teenage interns have thoughtlessly terminated VA contracts that support chemotherapy, imaging services, and more,” tweeted Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) on Thursday. “DOGE is clearly a serious threat to VA patient safety.” She added: “Kick Elon OUT of the VA.”
“Elon Musk and Donald Trump are halting contracts at the VA which include veterans’ cancer treatment – chemotherapy, radiation, imaging, and more – as well as care for veterans treated for toxic exposure,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Northern Virginia). “This is monstrous,” he said.
Musk’s organization has embedded itself at the VA, as it has at many other agencies across the government. Empowered by legally questionable executive orders from Trump, DOGE has swiftly sought to downsize and hamstring large parts of the federal bureaucracy, all in the name of some a “efficiency” mandate.
DOGE and Musk have bragged of saving Americans billions by destroying various government agencies and programs. However, recent analyses have found that DOGE is either making lots of factual errors in its calculations or is simply lying about how much it’s saving. A recent report from NBC found that DOGE’s website provided a “wildly exaggerated and false impression of government spending,” and other reports have shown that DOGE’s initial savings estimates are often off by billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, Musk’s organization has shut down and attacked organizations that actually save consumers money. DOGE notably hobbled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has clawed back billions of dollars from predatory corporations, and the Trump administration also recently fired inspector generals across the government—officials tasked with rooting out abuse and fraud. Those IGs have since sued the government over their dismissal.
DOGE has also been attacking the Social Security Administration, which is responsible for dispensing retirement benefits for some 73 million Americans. It has helped to terminate the leases of SSA offices across the country, and under the agency’s recently appointed commissioner, the agency is reportedly planning to lay off half of its workforce as part of Trump and DOGE’s broader government downsizing agenda. Such a move would surely all but doom the program. “Social Security is being driven to a total system collapse,” tweeted Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland who also served as the commissioner of SSA under Biden. “I give the DOGE kids and co-president Musk 30-90 days before they crater it to the point of interruption of benefits.”