Some Tulsa veterans worried about planned Department of Veterans Affairs job cuts

Some Tulsa veterans worry planned cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs will impact their healthcare. CBS News reports the VA plans to cut as many as 80,000 employees by Sept. 2025 as part of an effort to make the department more efficient.

Related: 'Large-scale and potentially short-term' CBS News Correspondent Scott McFarlane on VA Job Cuts, Potential Government Shutdown

Kirby Cordell, of Broken Arrow, and Larry Shackelford, of McAlester, both Vietnam veterans, use the VA Hospital in Muskogee and the VO Outpatient Clinic in Tulsa. Both praised the quality of the care, while pointing out there are already long waits for appointments, and a long process for approvals on many procedures.

"The care we get, it takes a little while," said Cordell.

The administrator of the VA says the cuts will not impact care, except to improve it by making the department more efficient. Cordell worries that won't pan out.

"And I voted for Trump, three times, and some of this stuff I like, but sometimes it worries me what they come up with," he said.

A new VA Hospital in Tulsa is under construction downtown, with plans to staff and open it in 2026. Many of the estimated 115,000 veterans in Northeast Oklahoma also use the VA Hospital in Muskogee.