VA Secretary Collins: Indifferent to Public's and Congressional Opposition to His Gutting Veterans' Care

[Passages]

In congressional testimony, he refused to take responsibility for his drastic downsizing.

by Suzanne Gordon, Russell Lemle
May 23, 2025

When Doug Collins first appeared before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC) for his confirmation hearing, his comforting bromides about his commitment to the VA and veterans lulled Democratic members, who, with only a few exceptions, voted to confirm Collins as President Trump’s new secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. As one Capitol Hill insider told the Prospect, many believed that, unlike Pete Hegseth or RFK Jr., Collins was “a man they could work with.”

Democrats on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (HVAC) came to the same conclusion. Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), ranking member of the HVAC, said he was ready to welcome the former Georgia congressman back into the fold because “I think we will be able to do some good work at VA with Doug Collins.”

Fast-forward four and a half months to May 6th, when Collins appeared for the second time in front of the Senate Committee, and May 15th, when he made his first appearance before the HVAC. Assessing his first months on the job, Democrats now clearly viewed Collins as someone working not with, but against, them—and against the nation’s veterans. They expressed anger at his firing of 1,000 probationary employees, his cancelation of hundreds of contracts with vendors that supply VA with critical resources, and his termination of VA researchers, thus interrupting clinical trials that could benefit veterans. And, of course, there was Collins’s vow to lay off 83,000 VA employees.

In both hearings, Collins abandoned any pretense of collegiality. When confronted with uncomfortable facts and irrefutable arguments, Collins followed the three rules that Roy Cohn taught the young Donald Trump: “attack, attack, attack; admit nothing, deny everything; always claim victory.”
https://prospect.org/health/2025-05-23-va-secretary-collins-gutting-veterans-care/


Pond scum.