VA Secretary Defends Staffing Cuts, Contract Cancellations in Heated Senate Hearing
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins testifies
during a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing to examine veterans at
the forefront, focusing on the future at the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington DC. (AP Photo/Rod
Lamkey, Jr.)
Posted: May 7, 2025 --- Military.com | By Patricia
Kime
Published May 6, 2025, at 5:59pm ET
Secretary Doug Collins defended his efforts to
restructure the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), describing a broken bureaucracy badly in need of reform, in his 1st appearance
before Congress since his confirmation hearing in January. Members of the
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee largely agreed that the VA needs improvement,
but Democrats expressed fury over how Collins is handling the reforms, saying
he has not given them the necessary details on issues such as staffing cuts,
contract cancellations, workplace accommodations and more.
Under the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the
size of the federal government, the VA has set a goal to reduce its workforce
by 15%. Collins said the department is reviewing every office and employee to
eliminate inefficiencies and hone services to best serve veterans. "Our
goal is to increase productivity, eliminate waste, bureaucracy, increase
efficiency and improve health care and benefits for veterans," Collins
told the committee.
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But committee Democrats say the efforts
to cut an estimated 80,000 employees cannot be done without affecting veterans'
services and say the Secretary has been less than forthcoming with his
plans. "You cannot slash and trash the VA without eliminating essential
positions which provide access and availability of health care," said U.S.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the committee's ranking member.
"You may give us a lot of verbiage here, but you're
not giving us facts. And facts are essential to accountability." Collins
said since his arrival at the VA, he has spent hours fighting reports that he
says are not true. "False rumors, innuendo, disinformation, speculation,
implying we're firing doctors and nurses and forcing staff to work in closets
and showers ... none of which have been backed up," Collins said testily.
"Why?
Because we canceled some contract work that we should be
doing in-house and we let go of less than one half of 1% [of employees]." When
senators asked where the 80,000-plus reductions in the workforce would occur,
and U.S. Senator Angus King, I-Maine, pointed out that Collins has refused to
provide a list of the 538 canceled contracts, Collins said he was going to give
the committee "all the information you need when [negotiations] are
actually finished."
"We're looking at every step we can, but also, I'm
not going to play it out in a public arena," Collins said. The hearing
followed the release of the Trump administration's fiscal 2026 budget, which
calls for a 4% increase in funding for the VA.
During testimony, Collins said the funds would go toward research, clinical
care and community care -- the program that allows veterans to see civilian
providers covered by the VA -- and infrastructure.
Veterans, advocates and VA employees, including union
workers who have lost bargaining rights, have expressed alarm at the planned
changes at the VA, saying cuts will hurt access to health care and affect
benefits and services. During an event on Capitol Hill on Tuesday after the
hearing, representatives from the grassroots veterans group Common Defense
spoke against proposed cuts.
"They are trying to dismantle and weaken the VA so
much that they have an excuse to sell it off to the highest bidder," said U.S.
House Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pennsylvania, a Navy and
Iraq War veteran. Collins noted that 300,000 positions at the VA are considered
critical and are not subject to the cuts, adding no doctors or employees who
provide direct care have been fired.
Blumenthal and other Democratic lawmakers said firing
administrative and support staff ultimately will affect veterans care, because
those employees are responsible for ensuring that vets have access to
appointments and services. Republicans on the committee said they are watching
the changes at the VA and understand that announcements over the past 3 months
have caused concerns among veterans.
But, they added, they believe that eliminating waste at the VA can create a department that will better serve veterans. "More work remains to make this agency, this department -- the 2nd-largest bureaucracy in the federal government -- perform to the levels that veterans, their families and VA staff members deserve," said committee Chairman U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.
More details are expected in the coming months on changes at the VA as the department approves applications for its deferred resignation program, which offers employees the option to resign with months of pay and announces whether clinical research trials currently under review will resume. Collins has pledged that veterans' services will continue uninterrupted and balked at suggestions to the contrary. "I will not let you sit here and scare my veterans and scare my employees," Collins told Blumenthal during a heated exchange.
