The head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Doug Collins, defended the agency’s recent workforce reductions during his first Senate testimony. He stated that the VA plans to cut an additional 15% of its workforce, potentially eliminating around 70,500 non-essential positions. Collins emphasized that adding employees does not necessarily lead to better outcomes, citing historical evidence. He noted that the VA had already fired over 2,400 employees and terminated 585 contracts earlier this year.
Senate Committee members challenged Collins regarding the impact of these job cuts, particularly concerning essential roles. He assured that frontline healthcare workers, such as doctors and nurses, would remain while non-essential positions—like interior designers—would be phased out. Collins argued that these changes would streamline operations and reduce waste, highlighting that savings from eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives were redirected to veterans’ needs, including prosthetics.
Senator Richard Blumenthal criticized Collins for lacking accountability and failing to respond adequately to prior inquiries. He cautioned that drastic cuts to the 470,000-employee agency, responsible for serving 9.1 million veterans, could lead to disastrous consequences. Collins argued that simply increasing funding and staffing does not resolve issues like veteran suicide, which, despite $588 million spent annually on research, has not seen significant improvements.
He expressed determination to reform the VA and claimed the current budget ensures enhanced benefits and healthcare without cuts. Collins expressed frustration at the inefficiencies within the VA’s human resources and emphasized the importance of meaningful reforms in the agency.
For crisis support, individuals are encouraged to contact resources such as the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
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