Veterans protest VA employee layoffs in West Springfield

Western Massachusetts residents are rallying against more proposed cuts to Federal funding and workers this as Veterans Affairs become the latest Target Jack woo was at Saturday's protest and has their message veterans rallied at the vet center in West Springfield Saturday morning protesting the layoffs of va employees they chanted honor the contract urging the federal government to give the Veterans Affairs off offices more employees and resources Michael Slater was recently fired from the Springfield Vet Center as a result of these layoffs Slater served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan he described how the community is feeling amidst these Mass firings those are the were the first drops in the bucket so now there's really this level of fear that what is 880,000 more going to do to this system how is it going to constrict care and access to care um and and the timely referral process to get veterans who need help in help another one of those veterans who attended was Senator John vus who also served in Afghanistan he told 22 News what consequences could come if the VA can't provide care if we establish a reputation of we are not going to take care of the men and women who serve their country then we've got problems cuz what that's is going to mean is that folks aren't going to join my plea here today in being here is I want the federal government to reconsider a ruling from a federal judge on Thursday ordered multiple federal agencies including the VA reinstate probationary employees that were laid off this comes as 19 states are suing the Trump Administration for these firings when asked what should be done Slater told 22 News that the federal government needed to assess the consequences of thinning out these agencies we need to really do a deep dive into the services and how every decision made by the administration is going to affect the services and ensuring that when veterans make the decision to seek care that the care is there without that's what I