U.S. Sen. Angus King is raising concerns after the Department of Veterans Affairs reportedly told the Togus VA Medical Center in Augusta to cut several vacant positions.
King questioned VA Assistant Secretary Mark Engelbaum during a Senate hearing Wednesday, noting the jobs had remained unfilled while undergoing a required federal review.
The senator said it would be unfair to force Togus to cut positions when the vacancies were caused by a VA-mandated review.
“These positions were not vacant because nobody was paying attention or they weren’t important, they were vacant because you all held them vacant while you did this review,” King said.
King also asked the Department of Veterans Affairs whether those positions were actually lost.
The VA said they were not.
