The Department of Veterans Affairs was spared Monday for the 90-day hiring freeze President Trump imposed on federal agencies, welcome news for the the roughly 9.1 million veterans enrolled in the agency's health care program.

Prior to Monday, whether the department would be exempt from the freeze was still unclear, though Trump in his first term also exempted the department from such a freeze. 

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran praised the Trump administration for the response to public concerns about the impact of the hiring freeze on veterans’ care.

“I appreciate VA quickly issuing guidance to continue hiring health care and other critical VA employees to make certain veterans and their families continue receiving their care and benefits in a timely manner,” The Kansas Republican said.

Former Rep. Doug Collins, Trump’s pick to run the department, said at his recent Capitol Hill confirmation hearing that regardless of whether the VA was spared from the freeze he still intended, if confirmed, to remove poor-performing workers – following a top Trump administration goal of making the federal government more efficient and less wasteful. 

The executive order reads: "No Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created," with few exceptions.  

 The department said the exemptions allow it to continue filling essential positions that provide health care and other vital services to Veterans and VA beneficiaries.

The Department of Veterans Affairs worked with the White House and Office of Personnel Management to develop updated hiring guidance.

"Under President Trump's leadership, VA will always do what is necessary to provide America's Veterans with the benefits and services they have earned," VA Director of Media Affairs Morgan Ackley said in a statement. "The targeted hiring-freeze exemptions announced today underscore that fact."

The department said also said positions critical to delivering care to veterans in the Veteran Health Administration are exempted under the category of "public safety."

The Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated health care system in the U.S., providing care at 1,380 health care facilities, including 170 VA Medical Centers and 1,193 outpatient sites to more than 9.1 million veterans enrolled in the VA health care program.

Main Independent Sen. Angus King recently argued a hiring freeze shouldn’t prevent a VA hospital from hiring a cardiologist, if staff there have spent months trying to hire one, according to federalnewsnetwork.com

The department said Thursday it is exempting more than 300,000 health care positions from the freeze, with VA doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical officers among the dozens of occupations excluded.