Dr. Tracey Graham addressed the group of veterans assembled at the one-year anniversary celebration for the Fredericksburg Veterans Administration Healthcare Center in Spotsylvania County Friday afternoon.
Graham welcomed the veterans, who perused various informational tables, and expressed “a deep sense of gratitude” for their service to the nation.
She explained that while the VA made strides since it opened last March by adding 35 services and 530 new employees, there is still work to be done for the largest VA outpatient clinic in the nation to become fully functional.
“I know our vets are looking for expanded services,” Graham said … “Over the next year we’re going to work towards some of the recruitment things that have to happen in those departments and work on some of the things we have to get as far as equipment.”
Federal officials representing Virginia said it’s concerning that the facility is lacking in personnel and equipment one year after its debut.
The Fredericksburg VA opened at the height of uncertainty for the federal workforce last year as President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) conducted mass firings and implemented a hiring freeze in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
A vast majority of the 2,600 parking spaces are typically empty but officials said the desolate view from U.S. Route 1 or Hood Drive is “a little bit deceiving” because of the amount of parking and the size of the 470,000-square-foot facility that sits on 48 acres.
There was more tangible evidence of a lack of activity as the third and fourth floors sat vacant for eight months until limited activity began in those areas this past November and December, an encouraging sign for officials.
“I think opening all the floors was a big milestone for us to fully move into the space,” said Stephen Mosher, assistant director and administrator for the facility. “Although we still have services we’re working to get operational, I think that was a really big milestone for us.”
Zoe Moyer, facility activation program manager, said the clinic will add plastic surgery on Tuesday and is striving to increase its dental offerings from three to five days a week by May.
Mosher said the VA is constantly hiring and currently has job postings. He said the target number for employees is between 800-900 but that’s when the facility is fully operational and all services are 100% up to speed. He said he doesn’t want to place a percentage on how fully staffed the facility is now because “for the services that we’re offering, I think we’re pretty well-staffed.”
However, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) said the facility was staffed at only at 41% at the end of 2025.
“The Fredericksburg VA Health Care Center is good news for veterans in the region who have often had to drive to Richmond or Northern Virginia to access care,” Kaine said in a statement to the Free Press. “Sadly, its opening has been negatively affected by the Trump administration’s hiring freeze and massive cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs … I’m continuing to do all I can to push the administration to move quickly to fill these roles and ensure we can keep our promises to our nation’s veterans.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) also noted the need and desire for the facility with a growing number of veterans in the Fredericksburg area. Warner fondly recalled attending the grand opening last March and marveling at the size of the building and the potential for an impressive number of services to be offered.
He expressed concern about the facility being only one-third full of employees at the time, and said, in his estimation, it isn’t much better today.
Warner said the VA typically offers lower pay to physicians and other staff than the private sector, but the tradeoff once was stability and job security.
“Well, all of that job security and stability has completely been upended by this Trump administration, by the DOGE efforts, by the fact that initially they were going to cut hundreds of thousands of VA workers,” Warner said. “It’s really hard to make the case to go to work for the VA, the post office or even the CIA at this point when you’ve got an administration that has basically declared war on federal workers.”
Warner said a comment from Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought that he wanted federal workers “in trauma” made it more difficult to fill positions. He said it’s unfortunate that a state-of-the-art $376 million facility is understaffed.
“It’s so tough to get people to go to work for the VA right now,” Warner said. “Some of that can be dealt with, with some upgrade in pay, but ultimately it’s going to take an administration that doesn’t have a war against federal workers to enable us to get to the staffing levels we need both at Fredericksburg and the new facility down at Hampton Roads.”
Officials at the Fredericksburg VA said that morale is high among staff members. They said the plan from the beginning was to slowly roll out services to ensure safety and sustainability.
Jeff Clements, a public affairs specialist with the VA, said veterans in the region remain upbeat about the facility and look forward to more services. Clements said oftentimes issues involving the federal government become politicized.
Still, local federal officials said their concerns are real. U.S. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-7th District) said he continues to hear from veterans “who are paying the price of this inaction” of the VA being understaffed and not fully operational.
“My office has pushed repeatedly to get this facility in working order, including by reaching out to VA Secretary [Doug] Collins four times for answers,” Vindman said in a statement to the Free Press. “When his staff does opt to return my outreach, their responses lack substantive commitments and do little to alleviate my concerns. Despite the secretary’s indifference, I will keep fighting until this clinic is delivering the care our veterans were promised and have earned.”
Jonathan Hunley contributed to this report.
