At a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Fredericksburg Veterans Affairs Healthcare Center (HCC) Friday afternoon, officials boasted about the 471,000-square-foot facility being the largest VA outpatient clinic in the nation.
“It is larger than 10 [hospitals] in the VA’s inventory,” said Jonathan Benoit, acting Veterans Integrated Service Network 6 director. “When people drive by here, they think it’s a hospital.”
Benoit informed those who complained in the past about the lack of parking at the VA in Richmond that there are 2,600 parking spaces available at the Spotsylvania County facility, which opens on Monday.
But U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-7th District) reminded the several hundred people in attendance that a major hurdle stands in the way of the facility reaching its full potential — the firing of approximately 2,400 VA employees and the hiring freeze at the agency enacted by President Trump’s administration.
“This is no time to be laying off veterans,” Kaine said. “This is no time to be laying off folks at VA hospitals. This is the time to celebrate the amazing veterans, VA employees and wonderful institutions like this.”
The new VA will consolidate three former sites within the Fredericksburg area. Approximately 23,000 veterans are presently served in the area, with a stated goal of serving up to 35,000 at the new facility in the next five years. Kaine said one out of every nine Virginians are veterans and the Fredericksburg area has one of the fastest growing veteran populations in the nation.
Several public officials take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Spotsylvania VA Health Care Center on Friday afternoon. (Photos by Jeff Kearney)
At full capacity, the new facility would create 750 to 900 new jobs. But as some employees peered through the glass down to the first floor where the ribbon-cutting ceremony was held, Warner said the facility is almost 500 employees short of capacity.
Kaine and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) wrote a letter to the Trump administration requesting a return to work for all the veterans who were fired in the past six weeks. They wrote a separate letter asking the administration to halt all layoffs of VA employees.
Warner said he is displeased with the advisory Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “willy nilly” recommending layoffs.
“We’ve had about 2,400 VA employees fired, not based upon any performance, but based on these DOGE boys who don’t know anything about your service, or about the kinds of services that are provided by the VA,’ Warner said.
“I worry about [VA employees]. I worry about the fact that everyone on a probationary period, in their first two years, could be automatically fired. How are we going to provide that world-class service when we are close to 500 employees short in this facility? Who’s going to provide those services if they are in jeopardy of losing their jobs at a moment’s notice based upon politics, but not based upon delivery of services?”
Some in attendance stood and applauded when Warner pledged to fight for the end of the hiring freeze, saying he and other officials believe in a commitment to “world-class care” for veterans, particularly at the new facility.
“We will honor that,” he said. “We will push back against any forces or any political agenda that tries to interfere with it.”
Sandy Markert, assistant director of the Fredericksburg HCC, said that some hiring took place to build upon the three former sites that will now be housed at the new facility. More than 1,000 prospective employees attended a career fair in January at the Germanna Community College campus in Spotsylvania. The response was so overwhelming that interviews were halted and Markert ended up asking prospects to drop their resumes off on a stage.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner railed against cuts to the federal workforce that have already impacted staff readiness at the new VA Clinic in Spotsylvania.
“This care center must be online as soon as possible,” Vindman said. “We need the administration to lift the hiring freeze at the Department of Veteran Affairs. Thousands of veterans are expecting to receive care right here in Fredericksburg. Hundreds of talented folks are waiting to be hired, and services should already be online.”
Vindman noted there are approximately 72,000 veterans in his district, which includes all the Fredericksburg area as well as all or parts of Prince William, Orange, Culpeper, Greene, Madison and Albemarle counties.
He said one veteran from Fredericksburg was planning to have a lung screening at the new VA facility on Monday but was forced to reschedule for April and drive to Richmond because of a lack of staff. He called the hiring freeze “shortsighted.”
“That’s unacceptable,” Vindman said. “We’re here to celebrate this state-of-the-art facility. We should have the folks hired to run it and run it well. This facility is not just about providing comprehensive care, it’s about ensuring every veteran who walks through those doors knows that they’re valued and respected and supported every stage of their health journey.”
There were many local, state and federal officials in attendance Friday.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears participated in the ribbon cutting. Dels. Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg), Bobby Orrock (R-Spotsylvania) and Phillip Scott (R-Spotsylvania) were present, as were Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors representatives Deborah Frazier, Kevin Marshall and Chris Yakabouski.
