More than 60 House Democrats raised concerns about reductions in the Veterans Health Administration’s behavioral and mental health workforce and the potential effects on veterans’ access to care, according to a July 28 letter sent to VA Secretary Doug Collins.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has lost more than 300 psychologists and 700 social workers since the beginning of the Trump administration. The department also reportedly lost about 200 psychiatrists in just 2025.
The lawmakers said “57% of facilities reported severe psychology staffing shortages” in 2025. They also cited reports of longer wait times, canceled appointments, interrupted treatment and loss of clinicians.
The lawmakers requested information on staffing, vacancies, provider separations, recruitment and retention efforts, wait times and continuity of care. They asked the VA to respond by Aug. 14.
Read the full letter here.
Quinn Slaven, VA press secretary, said in a statement to Becker’s:
“The letter highlights one of the fundamental differences between the modern-day VA and how it operated under the Biden Administration. Whereas the Biden Administration judged the Department’s performance by how many people it employed and how much money it spent, the Trump Administration is solely focused on measuring VA’s success by how well it serves Veterans.
“This commonsense approach has led to dramatic improvements for Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors across the country. More than 200,000 new Veterans have enrolled in VA healthcare in 2026 alone – proof these reforms are working.
“What’s more, under President Trump and Sec. Collins, VA is delivering record levels of mental healthcare to Veterans, including:
- Completing a record high 15,545,502 mental healthcare appointments in FY25 through direct care and community care, after the total number of appointments fell during several of the Biden Administration years. VA is on pace to deliver more of these appointments than ever before in FY26.
- Setting new records this year for both Veteran suicide prevention screening and comprehensive evaluations for at-risk Veterans – critical elements of the department’s ongoing work to prevent Veteran suicide.
- Average Wait times for VA mental health care are lower under the second Trump administration than they were under Joe Biden (see info below).”
| Specialty Access Clinic Groups | Measures | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 thru 18 May 2026 |
| Mental Health Combined (MH-Gen/MH-Spec) | Completed – New – RD – Average Wait Time | 21.7 | 20.7 | 19.0 | 17.7 |
| Completed – Est – PID – Average Wait Time | 5.9 | 6.0 | 5.7 | 5.8 |
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