Sen. Martin Heinrich focuses on veterans, education in community talks

As the Veterans Affairs Department considers larger staffing cuts, elected officials fear veteran medical care could be impeded.

Back from D.C. as senators spend two weeks working in their home states, Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich was focused on proposed staffing cuts to Veterans Affairs and the Education Department with a pair of roundtables Wednesday.

“I think they impact every single aspect of VA services. That’s reality,” Heinrich said.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins is planning a 15% staffing cut at the federal agency, which would amount to 80,000 employees nationwide, returning the agency to 2019 staffing levels. VA staffing increased after passage of the PACT act , which provided more benefits to veterans exposed to Agent Orange, burn pits and other toxic substances.

“We’re going to accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries,” Collins said in a March video message. The agency is also going to continue hiring for 300,000 mission-critical positions, he said.

The agency already laid off approximately 2,400 probationary employees, many of whom had to be rehired because of a court order.

Reductions in force and trying to make the agency more efficient are understandable, said state Sen. Harold Pope Jr., D-Albuquerque, but that should be done with a “scalpel and this is being done with a chainsaw.” The abrupt layoffs could discourage veterans from applying for jobs with the agency in the future, Pope said.

“If you want people to step up and serve their country, you have to start from a position of respect,” Heinrich said. “And so if people don’t feel like they’re going to be respected as a service member, then yeah, it’s going to make it harder to get the best and brightest serving our country.”

In order to do telehealth well, organizations that serve veterans need internet and technical assistance — which requires staffing — said Brock Wolff, CEO of the New Mexico Veterans Integration Centers.

In the face of federal cuts, state government could boost veteran services by focusing on internet infrastructure and transportation services for veterans, according to Pope.

Department of Education cuts

In March, the Department of Education announced a plan to cut half its staff, approximately 1,300 employees, before President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the federal agency a few weeks later. The staff for seven of 12 regional Offices of Civil Rights were terminated.

“Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” the executive order reads.

Lauren Smith, a special education teacher at Ernest Stapleton Elementary in Rio Rancho, is concerned that the changes mean no one is going to enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that ensures public education is available to children with disabilities. She previously taught in Alabama for 15 years.

“With IDEA, there’s not going to be equitable access for all kids if there’s no one ensuring that,” Smith said during a roundtable discussion hosted by Heinrich in Rio Rancho Wednesday morning.

Rio Rancho treats special education staff really well, she said, but Smith is also worried that funding could be in danger. Medicaid helps pay for some of the services like physical therapy, she said.

Some of the federal education dollars that have been canceled by the Trump administration are “flat out illegal,” Heinrich said, because they were already appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the previous president.

“This is a president who does not respect the rule of law. So it’s going to be up to all of us to find the places where we can push back on that,” Heinrich said. He plans to continue working with the New Mexico attorney general to hold the administration accountable.