Secretary Doug Collins defended his efforts to restructure the Department of Veterans Affairs, describing a broken bureaucracy badly in need of reform, in his first 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.
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"Our goal is to increase productivity, eliminate waste, bureaucracy, increase efficiency and improve health care and benefits for veterans," Collins told the committee.
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 Sen. 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 Sen. 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 Friday 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 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 three 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 second-largest bureaucracy in the federal government -- perform to the levels that veterans, their families and VA staff members deserve," said committee Chairman Sen. 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.
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