VA Funding and Workforce Protection Act

This bill aims to keep Veterans Affairs (VA) money and staffing stable. It locks in VA funding so it can’t be frozen, moved, or repurposed without a new law that clearly allows it. If the VA is within 30 days of running short on money, the Secretary must alert Congress.

It also protects VA jobs. The VA wouldn’t have to follow any hiring freeze from January 20, 2025, through January 20, 2029. Veterans who were career VA employees and were removed from their jobs after January 20, 2025, must be put back in their previous or equivalent positions and can’t be laid off in a reduction in force before January 20, 2029. The VA must give Congress advance notice before layoffs tied to reorganizations. Employees still in their probationary period could not be removed without a new law, and the VA must report to Congress when such removals happen. The VA must also certify within 30 days—and then yearly—that it is following these rules.

Key points

• Who is affected: VA patients and communities; VA employees and job applicants; veterans who worked as career employees at the VA.
• What changes: VA funds can’t be shifted or frozen without a new law; hiring freezes don’t apply to the VA (2025–2029); certain removed veteran employees must be reinstated and protected from layoffs; stricter notice and reporting on layoffs and probationary removals; annual compliance certification.
• When: Most workforce protections run from January 20, 2025, to January 20, 2029; certification is due 30 days after enactment and then yearly.