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What happened: A trio of lawmakers called for transparency from the Veterans Affairs Bureau on Tuesday, saying the Trump administration continues to request “Stonewall” requests for details regarding the cancellation of the agency’s hundreds of recent service contracts.
The group, which includes Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Angus King and Mark Takano, said despite repeated requests, the agency has disclosed an incomplete and inaccurate list that failed to specify exactly which contracts were cancelled. Blumenthal and Takano are Democrats, and the King is independent. They made comments at a special forum in Washington.
A review by Democrats on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs identified 655 contracts that were cancelled by the VA.
Lawmakers cited a recent Propublica study on the agency’s use of flawed artificial intelligence tools to evaluate VA contracts. This analysis was conducted by staff from the Ministry of Efficiency, without medical or government experience. The VA uses contractors for a variety of services, including supporting hospitals, research and other services aimed at caring for veterans.
Doge has developed an error-prone AI tool to “munk” veteran contracts
Within AI, Doge prompts are used to “munk” contracts related to veteran health
What they said: The list of contracts previously disclosed to the committee is “Gobbledygook,” and is filled with errors, the lawmaker said. “This hearing should not be necessary,” said King, who is on the VA Oversight Committee. “The easiest thing to do is send a list.”
The senator highlighted the harm caused by cancelling contracts, including those that resolved issues between the VA systems and resolved contracts that prevented veterans from receiving benefits. Without this contract, Benjamin Ambrose, whose job was to resolve these errors, was no one left in the VA to do this work. “In this case, the veterans are locked up forever,” he said.
“We are accused of the Bipartisan Project on Government Oversight,” said Scott Amy, general counsel for the Bipartisan Project on Government Oversight.
Amey expressed doubt that the necessary work was done to ensure that the cancelled contract was duplicated or wasted. “I’m not confident that the job was done from Stonewalling, which I’ve heard from the VA,” he said.
The lawmaker also questioned the use of AI to evaluate contracts by the VA to assess the possibility of AI use, referring to Propublica’s investigation. Blumenthal said the AI holds its promise, but “it needs to be used thoughtfully.”
Background: Propublica reported on Friday that the VA used an error-prone AI tool to identify contracts for possible cancellations. Written by former Doge staffer Sahil Lavingia, the tool “munched” the “munch” contract based on conflicting instructions and dazzling mistakes using an outdated AI model.
AI and government procurement experts agreed to the DOGE analysis of VA contracts being called “deeply problematic.” Lavingia admitted there was a problem. “The mistakes were certainly true. The mistakes were always made. I would never recommend someone run my code and do what it says. It’s like the ‘Office’ episode of Steve Carell driving to the lake, as Google Maps says it drives to the lake. ”
Propublica has identified at least 20 contracts on Doge’s list so far cancelled. Among them are service contracts to maintain gene sequencing devices used to develop better cancer treatments. The other was Columbia University for blood sample analysis to support the VA research project. Others were associated with addressing nursing issues, such as addressing nursing issues to develop social media tools to recruit nursing staff, and supporting the assessment and improvement of the care they provide.
Congressional Democrats have sought more information from the VA regarding cancelled contracts to assess whether the cuts put veterans at risk.
Answer: VA spokesman Pete Casperowitz defended Doge’s work on reviewing the contract, saying that the review would set a “common-sense precedent.” He and Lavingia say VA staff have reviewed all of Doge’s “Munchable” list before deciding which contracts to cut.
In a statement Tuesday, Kasperowicz said the agency’s contract review is a careful process aimed at benefiting veterans and using taxpayer money efficiently. “The decision to maintain, reduce or remove contracts is based on careful and systematic multi-level reviews by VA employees, including professionals in the career subject matter who handles contracts, senior VA leaders and contractors,” he said.
He challenged the proposal from lawmakers that contract reviews could reduce critical services. “Whether or not these agreements are terminated or renewed will not adversely affect the care, benefits or services of veterans,” he said. “In fact, these decisions allow VAs to pull billions of dollars back into healthcare, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.”
Why it matters: More than 9 million veterans across the United States rely on healthcare on VAs through a network of 170 hospitals and 1,200 clinics. One of the nation’s largest healthcare providers, it is a training ground for doctors and nurses and an engine for medical research. Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has set up a massive overhaul of the agency and has called for an overall budget increase while announcing layoffs that could advocate for employment of around 80,000 employees.
The VA is examining all of its estimated 76,000 contracts as part of its overhaul and in line with the Trump administration’s push for technology. Propublica’s analysis identified more than 2,000 contracts flagged by AI for termination. It is unclear whether more numbers are on track from that list due to cancellation. The Trump administration’s decision on the VA contract was largely a black box.
