LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) –In her recently launched podcast, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel attacked the federal cuts implemented by President Donald Trump.

The March 17 “Pantsuits and Lawsuits” podcast that Nessel records with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes criticized the mass firings of federal employees and focused on the Department of Veterans Affairs.

MORE NEWS: Democrats Scramble to Blanket Michigan in Blue

The podcast featured a montage of federal employees who lost their jobs and one unidentified administrative officer who worked at Ann Arbor’s VA said, “We didn’t waste a single taxpayer dollar.”

However, the 24-minute podcasts didn’t address the rising taxpayer costs associated with these federal departments. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) released data on the increased costs of federal bureaucracy.

The Department of Veterans Affairs spending has increased from $199.6 billion in fiscal year 2019 to $325 billion in fiscal year 2024.

In addition, the Department of Veterans Affairs had 486,522 employees with a payroll of $50.4 billion in 2024. The average annual VA employee salary was $103,588 in 2024. That included 37,684 VA employees who made $200,000 or more, or roughly the population of the city of Muskegon. The median household income in Michigan in 2023 was $71,149, according to the U.S. Census.

According to DOGE, the federal deficit has increased from $984.4 billion in fiscal year 2019 to $1.83 trillion in fiscal year 2024.