Hundreds of Department of Veterans Affairs medical research projects are being threatened by a hiring freeze across the federal government, a pair of top Democratic senators warned in a letter to the department this week.
About 200 research personnel could be cut and an estimated 370 studies and clinical trials could be canceled or suspended in the next 90 days if the freeze isn't lifted, the senators said, "directly impacting up to 10,000 veterans currently participating in research studies."
Studies on cancer treatments, opioid addiction, prosthetics, suicide prevention and toxic exposures are among those at risk, a coalition of research organizations warned in its own letter to Congress last week.
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In the letter sent Monday, Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., pressed VA Secretary Doug Collins to reverse the hiring freeze and any other personnel policies that may be disrupting research.
"The VA research enterprise has long been a pillar of medical innovation, responsible for groundbreaking advancements that have improved the lives of millions of veterans and Americans, and is a major recruitment tool in bringing top talent to the department," the senators wrote in the letter, obtained exclusively by Military.com. "Without immediate action to address the recent hiring constraints imposed by the Trump administration, critical research efforts -- and the veterans who rely on them -- are at risk."
The VA did not respond to a request for comment on the letter by Military.com's deadline.
President Donald Trump ordered a hiring freeze across the federal government on his first day in office Jan. 20.
A few days later, the VA announced that hundreds of thousands of its health care jobs would be exempt from the freeze, saying the exemptions demonstrate the Trump administration's commitment to ensuring benefits and services veterans have earned aren't disrupted.
But the freeze is resulting in the VA refusing to extend time-limited researcher positions on studies that are directly treating veterans, Murray first revealed in a statement earlier this month. Researchers are appointed to three-year "not to exceed" term limits, but their positions are typically renewed if their project is still active at the end of the term.
In addition to the hiring freeze, recent mass firings of 2,400 VA employees have also hit researchers, the research group coalition said. About $35 million in funding could be wasted if projects are canceled or suspended, it added.
"The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated," the coalition, called the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research, wrote in its letter to Congress last week. "We urge the administration and Congress to immediately halt and rescind the dismissals of key medical and research staff and to exempt all roles related to medical care and research from the federal hiring freeze."
"These actions are necessary to protect veteran health, maintain medical research momentum, and prevent irreparable harm to VA's ability to deliver high-quality care," the group wrote.
Warnings that the hiring freeze is crippling VA medical research come as the department is celebrating the centennial of its research program. The department traces the roots of its research program to 1925, when its predecessor bureau in the federal government started conducting hospital-based medical studies and first published a medical journal.
Among the medical breakthroughs VA research is credited with are implanting the first successful cardiac pacemaker, developing the nicotine patch, maintaining the nation's largest genomic biorepository, and advancing prosthetics technology, according to the department's history of the program.
Last year alone, the VA had 102 active research sites nationwide with 3,685 principal investigators leading 7,278 funded research projects, according to the department. Congressionally approved funding for VA research last year was $984 million.
At his confirmation hearing last week, Paul Lawrence, the nominee for VA deputy secretary, was pressed by Murray about how the hiring freeze is hurting veterans who are "literally in the middle of receiving breakthrough treatment" from clinical trials.
Lawrence vowed to "look into this to better understand what took place," but declined to answer whether he supports the firings or to commit to reinstating the researchers, saying he did not have enough information to answer since he is not yet in the administration.
In their letter to Collins this week, Murray and Blumenthal also argued the way VA research is funded, including through grants from philanthropic groups, is fiscally responsible.
"At a time when the Trump administration claims to be hyper-focused on efficient use of taxpayer dollars, it is unacceptable that the department has targeted cost-effective research aiming to improve veterans' health outcomes," they wrote.
"VA has been at the forefront of medical breakthroughs for a century, and continued investment in its research workforce is essential to ensuring that legacy endures," they added. "We strongly urge VA to swiftly reverse the hiring freeze and any related personnel decisions to prevent disruptions to research that directly contributes to improving veteran health outcomes."
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