WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said Democrats are trying to “scare” voters by claiming the agency is “cutting veterans benefits.”
“No critical services cut. And they keep saying that to scare people because that’s the only tool they have left, is to try and scare people,” said Collins.
Top Republicans say they trust Collins to lead the department. Democrats, however, have not expressed faith that cutting $98 million through dismissals won’t harm veterans.
“We’re not cutting critical healthcare; we’re not cutting healthcare benefits. We’re not cutting benefits,” Collins said on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
DOGE layoffs and how they are affecting the VA
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has been working to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures,” according to President Donald Trump. On Feb. 13, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that more than 1,000 employees were fired, according to the Associated Press.
These employees had been with the department for less than two years. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from Washington said that these layoffs included researchers who were working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Wednesday she is seeking answers about how the layoffs may have affected efforts to prevent suicide through the confidential Veterans Crisis Line.
In a call with journalists, the Illinois Democrat said her staff heard from VA employees who worked for the crisis line or supported the VA claims process. She said two from Illinois may have been reinstated after she intervened, “but they’re still locked out of their portal, so I don’t know if they actually have been rehired.”
Collins vehemently denied that veteran care was impacted.
“We did not cut any veteran crisis line responders who actually pick up the phone and talk to those who need to talk to a veteran crisis line,” he said. “They’re trying to use that with some other things that were going on in the back offices that did not happen.”
However, one former VA employee told NewsNation that the layoffs were “dishonest.” “The thing about it is, I hadn’t even had an evaluation. My supervisor didn’t even know this was happening. Our chief of staff didn’t know this is happening,” Andrew Lennox, a 10-year Marine veteran who worked on a new supervisor training program at the VA Medical Center, said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.