As our brave servicemen and women engage in a precarious fight in Iran, I’m both thankful and worried about their future. With so many recent cuts to staff at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, a reduction in key healthcare services, and other bad policy changes, how will our heroes be treated when they come home and after they retire?
As a retired U.S. Marine Combat Veteran and U.S. Air Force Chaplain myself, I have seen firsthand how since this Administration took office, it has treated the VA like just another line item on its balance sheet, making reckless, deep cuts across the board that have impacted veterans’ care and threatened their benefits.
So far, the Trump Administration has cut nearly 28,000 VA jobs nationwide — including 172 right here in New Mexico, 4.7 percent of our state’s VA workforce.
There are definitely areas where the government could spend our taxpayer money more wisely – take, for instance, the $100 billion dollar war in Iran — and root out fraud and abuse. But the VA cuts are an outrageous reduction, and firing thousands of VA nurses, medical officers, social workers, psychologists, and employees who help our veterans access their benefits is the last cut we should be making. That’s especially true as many veterans are growing older, facing more complicated healthcare needs, and can’t navigate the rising tide of online red tape it now takes to access the benefits they put their lives on the line to earn.
Don’t take it from me, that’s straight from the Office of Personnel Management. I’ve made it clear to our sitting Congressman, Rep. Gabe Vasquez, that the cuts must stop and that services must be expanded, not reduced, especially for veterans living in rural New Mexico.
New Mexico’s veterans have been consistent in making our concerns known and being vocal at local, state, and federal level. For years, we had an Air Force Veteran representing our district, Mr. Steve Pearce. Pearce and his staff were always there to listen, but unfortunately, Mr. Pearce often voted against bills we asked him to support that would have benefited veterans.
That couldn’t be more opposite than our current representative, Mr. Gabe Vasquez, who hasn’t only supported the legislation we’ve urged him to support, but has introduced a number of bills to help New Mexico veterans directly — many of which he has led in partnership with Republicans.
For example, after hearing concerns raised by myself and other veterans living in and around Alamogordo, Vasquez got to work. He introduced a bill in Congress with a Republican from Kansas to change the service lines for Veterans living in Otero and Eddy counties to help us receive our main health care services at the El Paso VA — which is geographically much closer to Albuquerque — and help us greatly with our transportation costs.
He also introduced a bipartisan bill that has won the support of 43 members of Congress, including 13 Republicans, to increase the G.I. bill stipend for students who have been priced out of textbooks and supplies when they use their benefits at places like New Mexico State University. He told me he introduced that bill after meeting with the New Mexico State University Military and Veterans Program.
And to make it easier for veterans to find jobs, he introduced a bill offering tax credits to small businesses that hire veterans. And the list goes on —- I personally know this, because I have met with him many times and seen that he shows up and doesn’t just listen; he acts on our requests. From renaming the Las Cruces Veterans Clinic to honor Bataan survivors, to working to restore veterans’ food assistance that was eliminated under the Big Beautiful Bill, Vasquez explains what he’s working on and works hard to get support from both sides of the aisle. That’s why veterans came from across the district to stand in solidarity with Gabe in Las Cruces this week.
Because during a time when the government’s approach to all of its agencies and departments is to slash and cut with little regard to who it impacts, it’s important to have a Representative in Congress who doesn’t blindly follow the Trump agenda and instead pays attention and stands up for veterans when we need him most.
Jeff Swanson is a U.S. Marine Combat Veteran and USAF Chaplain, as well as a resident of Alamogordo, NM.
