Suzanne Gordon Journalist Profile

Articles

Critics of VA Cuts Say, "This is Life and Death Stuff"

1 month ago | washingtonmonthly.com | Suzanne Gordon |Steve Early

Earlier this month, Vietnam War veteran Paul Cox went to a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center in St. Louis to visit a sick friend. When he left the hospital, he encountered a woman handing out flyers in its parking lot. “VA workers are being fired,” her leaflet said. “This can hurt your care. This is an assault on the VA.
Doug Collins’s Cancel Culture

1 month ago | prospect.org | Suzanne Gordon |Steve Early |Jasper Craven |with Suzanne Gordon

At the mid-January confirmation hearing for Doug Collins to be secretary of veterans affairs, many senators, including Republicans, directed his attention to the problematic results of past VA outsourcing to private-sector vendors.
VA Research Funding Slashed

1 month ago | prospect.org | Suzanne Gordon |Steve Early |Jasper Craven |with Suzanne Gordon

If you’re interested in the long history of scientific innovation and advances at the Department of Veterans Affairs, you may want to visit the website for the Office of Research and Development before Elon Musk and company delete it. Though few Americans are aware of it, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has traditionally served as one of the nation’s largest research powerhouses, along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A ‘Middle Finger’ to Vets

2 months ago | prospect.org | Suzanne Gordon |Steve Early |Jasper Craven |with Suzanne Gordon

In a scene that has become familiar in Washington these days, angry federal workers and concerned members of Congress gathered outside a government office to protest the latest depredations of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) created by President Trump. On February 13, the venue of the day was the Vermont Avenue headquarters of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), an agency with the second-largest workforce and third-largest budget in the federal government.
Trump's Sober Pick for Veterans Affairs Has His Work Cut Out

2 months ago | washingtonmonthly.com | Suzanne Gordon |Steve Early

Amid the alarm over President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees who are under-qualified and self-styled disrupters, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has a more reassuring resume. The former four-term member of Congress from Georgia is an Iraq war veteran with law and divinity school degrees. An Air Force Reserve colonel, Collins, the son of a Georgia state trooper, has ministered to fellow soldiers as a military chaplain.