by Vernal Coleman and Eric Umansky

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Democratic House members on Thursday blasted the Trump administration’s moves to shrink the Department of Veterans Affairs and demanded more transparency from its leaders after a ProPublica investigation revealed widespread disruptions across the agency’s health care system.

“There are real-life dangerous impacts for veterans,” said Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, citing the news organization’s work.

This week, ProPublica reported on dozens of emails sent from staff at VA hospitals and clinics across the country to headquarters warning how cuts could, and in some cases are, degrading the agency’s ability to provide for the roughly 9 million veterans who rely on it.

Hiring freezes and other edicts from the White House have left medical providers scrambling and short-staffed amid an ever-shifting series of policy moves, including the cancellation of contracts with companies that maintain cancer registries, the emails said. Staffers at VA centers in Pennsylvania warned the cuts were causing “severe and immediate impacts,” including to “life-saving cancer trials.”

“Enrollment in clinical trials is stopping,” one wrote,........

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