A rally in San Luis Obispo on Monday aimed at drawing attention to concerns about cuts to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the local and national impacts on veterans' healthcare, housing, and benefits.
"War is hell. People get killed," said Bill Harland, and World War II Navy veteran.
A reality few of us know, but something veterans like Harland are all too familiar with.
"Our family knows that," he said. "We had five people in the service. Only four of them got back home."
Harland, along with other veterans, supporters, and members of the progressive group Indivisible SLO, spent the morning at the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Building protesting proposed cuts by DOGE, including 80,000 layoffs across the VA.
"I think you have all kinds of trickle-down impacts of that," said Greg Haas, District Senior Representative for Rep. Salud Carbajal. "Everything from our local clinics here — you know, our San Luis Obispo clinic, Santa Maria clinic and soon, hopefully, to open Paso Robles clinic — will be impacted because you're going to have fewer health care staff. They're already shorthanded."
Carolyn Biedinger, whose husband served in Vietnam, was among the protestors. Her brother was killed in the same war.
"I do believe that those cuts are terribly unfair," she said. "When we send our men to fight and to protect us and then when they come home, so many times they're not supported, and they need medical care. They may need, actually, mental health care."
In its press release about Monday's rally, Indivisible SLO also claimed that the VA faces "indiscriminate budget and hiring freezes." However, Veterans Affairs Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz says there has been no talk of budget cuts at the VA and that the White House's budget plan actually increases the VA's budget.
In an email, Kasperowicz said, "The Trump Administration inherited a VA that is in dire need of reform: VA health care has been on the Government Accountability Office’s high-risk list since 2015; the Biden Administration added tens of thousands of new VA employees and tens of billions in additional VA spending, and the department’s performance got worse; during those four years, VA failed to address nearly all of its most serious problems, such as benefits backlogs, rising health care wait times and major problems with survivor benefits. We owe it to America’s Veterans to take a close look at VA – how it’s currently functioning and whether current policies are leading to the best outcomes for Veterans. That is precisely what we are doing."
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins has said that the cuts will not hurt VA healthcare, benefits or beneficiaries and would instead increase productivity and eliminate waste.
In a statement to KSBY News, Randall Jordan, Chairman of the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County, said, "The smoke and mirrors rally for Veterans is just another well funded Progressive attempt to dissuade the great work the DOGE team is doing and has done... I and my fellow conservatives feel the cuts are warranted and just wish more waste was targeted and eliminated in the local, state and federal government."
Monday's rally coincided with an open house at the Veterans Memorial Building to inform veterans of the services that are available to them, which Biedinger said are needed.
“They're sending someone to war and to kill other people and then come home and, you know, be expected to fit into society again is really tough," she said. "I watch my husband go through that. It was horrible when he came home from Vietnam. He was spat upon and treated horribly. And he said, you know, I don't care that I feel betrayed by my country.”
Harland said he was encouraged by those who showed up at the rally on Monday to express their support for veterans.
"Feels like I got a lot of the help, support. It's great. I'm quite surprised, well not real surprised, but I'm real appreciative of all these people,” he said.
