The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced positions within the agency that are exempt from Donald Trump’s hiring freeze announced earlier this week.
The announcements were made in a memo released by the acting VA Secretary Robert Snyder.
The memo contained a list of exempted occupations within the VA that are exempt from the hiring freeze. Snyder said the positions were exempt because they are “necessary to meet Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) public safety responsibilities.”
Snyder noted that a small number of “mission critical support positions” were included as well.
Snyder said in a statement:
The Department of Veterans Affairs intends to exempt anyone it deems necessary for public health and safety, including frontline caregivers. The President and VA remain committed to seeing that our Veterans receive the quality care and benefits they’ve earned. This is the right thing to do for our Veterans.
The VA Committee Chairmen from both the House and Senate sent a letter to Donald Trump yesterday asking him to clarify whether or not direct patient care providers were exempt from the hiring freeze since the agency is, according to the lawmakers, “in a state of crisis.”
Snyder’s memo released today would seem to provide the information that the Chairmen were seeking.
A copy of the memo is included below.
