Eighteen American Legion Family members from Minnesota traveled to Washington, D.C., this week and heard directly from VA Secretary Doug Collins. He spoke with Legionnaires from across this nation Monday at the Washington Hilton during the American Legion Washington Conference.

He told us recent layoffs at the VA were in areas not critical toward the mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Any savings from layoffs and from program cuts will go directly toward veterans’ health care. He also said that hundreds of laid-off VA employees were able to get back into the employment of the VA through a generous appeals process.

Collins said the changes will result in millions of dollars taken away from non-mission programs and put toward health care of veterans.

The VA itself issued a news release on Monday saying the number of dismissed workers was 1,400 out of 40,000 probationary employees. It said they were not mission-critical. The release includes an underreported detail: The VA continues to hire for 300,000 mission-critical positions exempt from the federal hiring freeze.

“The personnel moves will save the department more than $83 million per year, and VA will redirect all of those resources back toward health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries,” the VA itself said.

The American Legion is careful to look before we leap. We ask for calmer heads and patience. We ask our veterans to recognize when and where partisan politics enters our community in attempts to divide us. Veterans don’t appreciate being used for political gamesmanship.

The American Legion continues to stand against any efforts to privatize the VA. We continue to stand against any reduction in health care and benefits. We stand for smooth implementation and proper funding for the PACT Act.

We will never give up on our critical missions, and we are, and will, continue to watch and act appropriately when our veterans’ benefits are in jeopardy.

— Dr. Carl R. Moon is the commander of the Minnesota American Legion.