President Trump’s new federal hiring freeze has congressional lawmakers and former service members worried that operations at Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities will be hindered. The government-wide freeze,

The president is throwing the federal government, and the welfare of the men and women who fought for the nation, into chaos

It means some open jobs at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital and military hospitals such as Wilford Hall and Brooke Army Medical Center will go unfilled.

The VA memo exempts roughly three-quarters of the Veterans Health Administration's roughly 400,000-employee workforce.

VA officials said the exemptions to a Jan. 20 executive order are necessary to provide health care and services to veterans.

President Trump’s directive is supposed to exempt national security and public safety positions, but the F.B.I. has put an immediate hiring freeze in place.

Trump's VA pick, former Rep. Doug Collins, said the VA may be trying to fill positions, but many of those vacancies have gone unfilled for weeks or longer.