{"id":28019,"date":"2025-06-24T14:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=28019"},"modified":"2025-06-24T14:27:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:27:00","slug":"watch-sen-ossoff-presses-va-secretary-to-reduce-staffing-shortages-at-atlanta-va","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/watch-sen-ossoff-presses-va-secretary-to-reduce-staffing-shortages-at-atlanta-va\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Sen. Ossoff Presses VA Secretary to Reduce Staffing Shortages at Atlanta VA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff today pressed the VA Secretary to reduce staffing shortages at Atlanta\u2019s VA Medical Center, which are driving up wait times and impacting veterans\u2019 care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In today\u2019s&nbsp;U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Sen. Ossoff pressed Secretary Collins to fill open primary care positions within Atlanta\u2019s VA to reduce wait times and ensure veterans can access the care and benefits they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent Inspector\u2019s General&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsbtv.com\/news\/local\/dekalb-county\/inspector-general-says-atlanta-va-infrastructure-problems-are-system-shock-dekalb-hospital\/YH7OJB6Y35HPNAFVFJAXJLOMB4\/\">report<\/a>&nbsp;released June 12 found that there were 208 primary care vacancies at the Atlanta VA, including 67 providers, 42 registered nurses, 32 licensed practical nurses, 49 medical support assistants and 18 pharmacist positions short at the Atlanta VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor years, the wait times at the VA Medical Center in Atlanta have been driven in large part by staffing shortages. I&#8217;ve heard it from the leadership there year after year,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Ranking Member Ossoff said<\/strong>. \u201cWhat is your goal? The date that you\u2019d like to bring the Atlanta VA up to full staffing, please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff asked Secretary Collins for a target date to bring the Atlanta VA to full staffing. After a discussion, the Secretary committed to working alongside Sen. Ossoff and the Subcommittee to identify a goal timeline to fill positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/n-UT7bb1B6A\"><strong>Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff\u2019s line of questioning about the Atlanta VA<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"874\" height=\"492\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Unknown-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28020\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Unknown-2.png 874w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Unknown-2-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Unknown-2-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Unknown-2-18x10.png 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 874px) 100vw, 874px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/n-UT7bb1B6A?si=S-cFW1V7_mMB3oV_\"><\/a># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff today pressed the VA Secretary to reduce staffing shortages at Atlanta\u2019s VA Medical Center, which are driving up wait times and impacting veterans\u2019 care. In today\u2019s&nbsp;U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Sen. Ossoff pressed Secretary Collins to fill open primary care positions within Atlanta\u2019s VA to reduce wait [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28019","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/28019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/28019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28021,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/28019\/revisions\/28021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}