POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Santiago sounds off on VA cuts
By Kelly Garrity CHAINSAW VS. SURGERY — A few weeks ago, state Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago was at an event with the Veterans of Foreign Wars national commander. The commander was ruminating on cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs — and on his own experience fighting in Vietnam. If, he posited in Santiago’s recollection, medics had decided to take a “chainsaw approach” to treating a gunshot wound to his arm, he wouldn’t have an arm today. Instead, they took a surgical approach, removing the shrapnel and saving the arm. “ That's the type of targeted approach we should be taking to any types of cuts,” Santiago told Playbook in a recent interview. “We all agree that waste, fraud and abuse needs to be addressed, right? But the way that folks are handling it, discussing it, treating it, raises some red flags.” The VA was one of the early targets of the Department of Government Efficiency’s job cuts, with more than 1,000 employees, including ...