There are more than 7,000 federal employees in Connecticut, more than half working for an agency expecting huge imminent layoffs.
Of the 7,293 federal employees in Connecticut as of September, the most recent data available, 3,925 are employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Of those, all but about 259 work in veterans health, according to data maintained by the federal Office of Personnel Management.
The VA may be bracing for as many as 83,000 layoffs, according to reporting in Government Executive, a news site focused on government employment issues. Those layoffs could have a significant impact in Connecticut, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
“We're talking about people whose jobs are vital to the total Connecticut workforce and the economic health of the state generally,” Blumenthal said Monday during an interview with CT Insider. “These fired workers are neighbors and community members whose unemployment is going to affect our entire economy, as well as our towns and cities.”
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There are several VA healthcare facilities in Connecticut, notably in West Haven and Newington, with smaller offices in Stamford, Danbury, New London, Waterbury, Willimantic, Winsted, Orange, Norwich and Rocky Hill.
Blumenthal said he had been informed that “there's a plan to terminate the live responses to calls made to veteran centers,” relying instead on automated messages.
“It is horrifying to think that a veteran who has a traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress ... may be stuck on the line with some automated voice message,” he said. “Veterans deserve a live human being, not an automated voice that’s a machine.”
In addition to the 3,925 people in Connecticut employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, a total of 1,107 people are employed by the Department of the Navy, which began civilian layoffs in March as part of the Defense Department’s attempts to cut its workforce by 8 percent.
There are also about 400 people in Connecticut employed directly by the Department of Defense, another 400 employed by the Army and 165 employed by the Air Force. There are also hundreds of employees working for the departments of justice, transportation and agriculture, and nearly 300 employees of the Social Security Administration.
Connecticut is also home to a smaller number of employees working for the departments of the interior, state, commerce, labor, energy, and housing and urban development.
It is unknown how many of those employees, listed as employed in Connecticut as of September, had already been laid off as a result of sweeping federal cuts led by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.
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Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he knows of 2,400 VA employees laid off so far: “We're talking about VA employees who have the highest performance records with promotions and praise from superiors.”
“They're now planning the total 80,000,” he said. “They seem to be doing it in steps and phases, rather than all at once. But the VA has been completely unresponsive to the letters that we've written asking for more information and the requests that we've made for plans and to targeted facilities or employees, so they've kept us in the dark.”
Blumenthal on Monday announced a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, though he is unsure if Secretary Douglas A. Collins can be expected to attend.
“I have no illusions about his appearing at this shadow hearing,” Blumenthal said during a Monday press conference. “He has said he's going to appear at some point in the future, but they haven't specified a date.”
An additional 740,000 veterans obtained health benefits through the VA since 2022, after the passage of the PACT Act, which expanded healthcare benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances such as Agent Orange.
“For decades, these Veterans bravely served our country while exposing themselves to hazards like burn pits or Agent Orange — and many got sick as a result,” then VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in 2024. “We want all of these heroes — and their survivors — to come to VA for the health care and benefits they earned and so rightly deserve.”
April 3, 2025
Senior Enterprise Reporter