U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins was peppered with questions Tuesday about widespread layoffs at the federal agency during a press conference at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville.

Collins has said the VA will lay off as many as 80,000 staffers as part of President Donald Trump’s controversial strategy to streamline the federal government. The VA has already laid off 2,400 probationary employees, including 14 or 15 staff members who lost jobs at the Asheville VA hospital. Collins shared that one executive assistant, interior designers, and some stock clerks were among the 14 or 15 staffers let go in Asheville.   

Responding to a reporter’s question, Collins said cost-savings from layoffs will be redirected to patient care. “Hundreds of millions of dollars” have already been directed to patient care, he said.

The Iraq War veteran and former Air Force chaplain said news outlets have made his job tougher by contributing misinformation about what is occurring at the VA.

“Health care and benefits are not being cut,” Collins said. “Most of that is statutory and that’s not something we’re going to cut in the sense of what’s being said, but I have people on the outside, even probably out here in the front today saying, ‘you’re cutting benefits.’”

Click here to see a video Collins recorded last month to address concerns about rumored health care and benefits cuts at the VA.

Big planned cuts draw protests

Asheville-area news outlets reported that more than 20 demonstrators gathered outside the Asheville VA to complain about federal budget cuts. Blue Ridge Public Radio reported that some held signs that read: “Trump hates vets” and “Protect our veterans from DOGE.”

DOGE refers to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency led by tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, whom Trump charged with reducing “waste” in the federal government and improving efficiency.

Collins said he spends “most of my time fighting innuendo and rumor.”

“Quit scaring my veterans,” Collins implored. “Quit scaring my employees. We’ve got a lot of change coming and we’re going to work together to have it.”

Collins pushed back on what he said are false claims that VA layoffs will include doctors and nurses.

“That’s not even in our consideration right now,” Collins said. “I need more good doctors; I need more good nurses. I need more of who are taking care of people on the front line.”

Colorado Newsline reported on Tuesday that veterans are already complaining in detail to members of Congress about how VA cuts are already limiting their access to care.

But Collins claimed the agency will mostly make cuts at the “bureaucracy layer” that runs from VA doctors to the agency’s central office in Washington. The agency, for example, will look at federal contracts for cuts, he said.

“By the way, 2 percent was all we looked at so far in contracts and we found monies that came from; we were paying people to write PowerPoints for us and meeting notes,” Collins said. “That doesn’t help my doctors. That doesn’t help them do what they’re supposed to do.”

The secretary was also critical of media reports about long waits for care at VA and canceled surgeries. The folks complaining are the ones most resistant to change, he said.

“I’m going to challenge anybody that you can’t tell me that the things are bad, and 60 percent of the calls to congressional offices are saying we need help getting to VA benefits or getting their help and then tell me we can’t change anything.”

Much of the criticism and pushback being directed at Collins, however, has come from Trump allies. Politico reported last week that Republican members of Congress have made a “flurry of panicked calls” to the agency as details of planned cuts have emerged.

The report quoted Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chair Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) as saying efforts to downsize “must be done in a more responsible manner,” and that planned cuts must be “justifiable.”

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Politico, “Maybe you’ve got a good reason to do it. I like Doug Collins — he’s a great guy. But we don’t need to be reading memos in the paper about 20 percent cut at the VA.”

Other critics have noted that veterans make up as much as 30 percent of the total federal government workforce and stand to be harmed disproportionately by DOGE cuts in all agencies.

Veteran mental health

Collins spoke extensively about veterans’ suicide, contending that the nation spends more than $588 million a year to prevent suicides among veterans each year but the numbers remain the same.

“We got great people doing great things with our suicide prevention but is there better ways to do it?” Collins asked. “We’re spending $588 million on prevention and we’re staying between 17 and 40 [veteran suicides per day], depending on what numbers you want to look at. I don’t accept that as a veteran. I want to find better ways.”

According to the 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Report, which analyzed data from 2001 to 2022, there were 6,407 suicides among veterans in 2022 compared to 41,484 among non-veteran U.S. adults. There were on average 131.2 adult suicides per day, with 17.6 veteran suicides per day, according to the report. The VA’s data show 209 veteran suicides in North Carolina in 2022.

Collins called the Asheville VA Medical Center a “family community that is working.” He pledged to take what’s working there and at other successful centers to replicate across the country.

“When you get as large as we are, it’s always good to see folks doing it well,” Collins said. “That also doesn’t mean we can’t do it better. I think that’s one of the things I’m emphasizing as I move forward. How do we take the things that are good here in places like Asheville in Western North Carolina and make that something we can model elsewhere in the country?”

NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Investigative Reporter Greg Childress covers issues related to poverty, homelessness, and housing policy. This article is republished here with permission.

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