{"id":31600,"date":"2025-05-06T18:31:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T18:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/05\/06\/collins-dems-spar-over-whether-va-needs-key-fixes-or-full-overhaul\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:53:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:53:48","slug":"collins-dems-spar-over-whether-va-needs-key-fixes-or-full-overhaul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2025\/05\/06\/collins-dems-spar-over-whether-va-needs-key-fixes-or-full-overhaul\/","title":{"rendered":"Collins, Dems spar over whether VA needs key fixes or full overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both Republicans and Democrats agree that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/05\/05\/va-shifts-survivors-assistance-office-in-effort-to-speed-up-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/05\/05\/va-shifts-survivors-assistance-office-in-effort-to-speed-up-benefits\/\">Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> is not perfect. On Tuesday, the two sides fought over just how not perfect it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In testimony before a Senate oversight committee, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/03\/06\/va-secretary-insists-massive-staff-cuts-needed-to-refocus-department\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/03\/06\/va-secretary-insists-massive-staff-cuts-needed-to-refocus-department\/\">Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins<\/a> portrayed his department as a bureaucracy in severe disarray when he took over three months ago. But he insisted reforms from the new administration since then have set operations on the right track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur shared goal needs to be making things better for veterans rather than protecting the department\u2019s broken bureaucracy,\u201d he told members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/04\/21\/senate-leaders-set-may-7-hearing-to-review-va-budget-reform-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/04\/21\/senate-leaders-set-may-7-hearing-to-review-va-budget-reform-plans\/\">Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee<\/a>. \u201cTo simply say that where we came in was okay, everyone knows that was just simply not true.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In contrast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/04\/02\/theres-a-war-on-vets-dems-launch-plans-to-counter-trumps-va-moves\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2025\/04\/02\/theres-a-war-on-vets-dems-launch-plans-to-counter-trumps-va-moves\/\">Senate Democrats<\/a> accused President Donald Trump\u2019s administration of working to dismantle the department rather than improve it, accusing Collins of exaggerating and fabricating problems to justify dramatic changes in coming months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou cannot slash and trash the VA without eliminating essential positions which provide access and availability of health care,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/24\/senate-democrats-plan-shadow-hearings-on-controversial-va-cuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/03\/24\/senate-democrats-plan-shadow-hearings-on-controversial-va-cuts\/\">Sen. Richard Blumenthal<\/a>, D-Conn., ranking member of the committee. \u201cIt simply cannot be done. You may give us a lot of verbiage here, but you\u2019re not giving us facts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2025\/04\/02\/theres-a-war-on-vets-dems-launch-plans-to-counter-trumps-va-moves\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BlumenthalShadowHearing.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">\u2018There\u2019s a war on vets\u2019: Dems launch plans to counter Trump\u2019s VA moves<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Democratic lawmakers vow to block bills, slow nominations and hold their own hearings to protest planned cuts to veterans programs.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collins\u2019 appearance on Capitol Hill was his first since his confirmation in February. It came amid increased criticism from veterans advocates and federal unions over Collins\u2019 public plans to trim as many as 80,000 staffers from the 480,000-plus department workforce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hearing quickly became a contentious affair, with several shouting matches between Collins and Democratic critics of his policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collins has said the staff cuts are needed to cut down on the \u201cbloated\u201d VA bureaucracy. Department staffing levels grew roughly 20% from the start of fiscal 2019 to the end of fiscal 2024, but Collins asserted problems like medical wait times and benefits backlogs have grown worse over that timeframe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSomething has to change, and it\u2019s up to us to make that change,\u201d he said. \u201cUnder President Trump, we are working to solve problems that have persisted at VA for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Democratic lawmakers disputed several of those points. Blumenthal noted that claims backlogs increased after a massive expansion of veterans benefits in 2022, and that wait times increased after significant changes to operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other lawmakers urged Collins to back away from planned staff dismissals without a clear idea of how those reductions will affect programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, Collins said he sees the 15% workforce reduction as a goal \u2014 \u201cit could be more, it could be less\u201d \u2014 but bristled at suggestions that he would make any moves that could harm veterans care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He insisted that no physicians or front-line workers have been fired so far and vowed that critical workers won\u2019t be dismissed later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democratic lawmakers countered that losing schedulers, support staff and other key personnel will harm veterans seeking care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019re claiming that these 80,000 are all [diversity employees] and interior designers,\u201d said Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. \u201cThere\u2019s no way that all of them are in those job fields.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They characterized VA as an agency in need of improvement, not a complete overhaul. President Joe Biden\u2019s administration also pushed that message late last year, noting an approval rating of more than 80% for veterans using the system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Republican lawmakers echoed Collins\u2019 view of a Veterans Affairs department in desperate need of overhaul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe VA is not working for veterans,\u201d said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. \u201cAnd if we just say, \u2018Everything has to say the same and you just have to add more money and more people,\u2019 you\u2019re looking at this the wrong way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conflict over the state of VA \u2014 and the level of changes it needs to make to prepare for the future \u2014 is expected to be on full display as lawmakers debate the department\u2019s fiscal 2026 budget in coming months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House has already proposed a 4% increase in veterans programmatic funding for next fiscal year, even with the proposed staff and contract cuts on the horizon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congressional fights over plans to cut tens of thousands of VA staffers hinge on lawmakers&#8217; views on just how dysfunctional the department is. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":109372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,11,33,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3294],"class_list":["post-31600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-fedlife","category-newsletters","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FV6SFO7OSRFQLDNADY65CVYK6A","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/05\/06\/collins-dems-spar-over-whether-va-needs-key-fixes-or-full-overhaul\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Collins, Dems spar over whether VA needs key fixes or full overhaul - Federal Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Congressional fights over plans to cut tens of thousands of VA staffers hinge on lawmakers&#039; views on just how dysfunctional the department is.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collins, Dems spar over whether VA needs key fixes or full overhaul\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Congressional fights over plans to cut tens of thousands of VA staffers hinge on lawmakers&#039; views on just how dysfunctional the department is.\" 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