With the U.S. Veterans Administration facing massive staff shortages, VA workers are concerned that siphoning funding off to private providers will hobble efforts to improve the VA itself. “VA employees feel they are uniquely trained to handle veterans. Lee says they believe that they understand the veterans‘ needs, but adds that she doesn't think the private sector will do as well. ‘We want the money coming back into the VA for our veterans, so we can hire more resources to give them better care,’ Looney says. ‘They served for us; it's time for us to give back to them.’” At its just-concluded convention, the AFL-CIO has vowed to fight privatization. “This is a deliberate strategy: Establish the basics of a privatization plan—they call it Choice—and they keep throwing more and more money at it and encourage veterans to use it instead of the VA,” AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said in his AFL-CIO address. [AFL-CIO anti-privatization resolution]