The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins, testified before the U.S. Senate on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026. Senator Jon Ossoff (D) questioned him over the budget and pointed out some of its issues.
Sen. Ossoff began questioning by confirming that the total budget request was for $441.2 billion. He then moved on to ask questions about personnel.
Specifically, Ossoff inquired about the portion of the medical services request that was for personnel. He also asked for the specific number of personnel to be employed.
Sec. Collins clarified that the VA has 465,000 employees. Ossoff then repeated his question, and Collins answered that 396,000 new employees would be added under the medical services request.
Ossoff then asked how many physicians would be added. Collins replied with the current number, which is 28,868.
Collins clarified that no physicians are set to be cut, but he didn’t know exactly how many would be added. He also didn’t know how many dentists and nurses would be added.
Collins assured that the breakdown would be provided at a later date. Ossoff then asked, “How have you calculated the money you need for personnel without having yet decided how many personnel to employ?”
Collins didn’t give a straight answer to this. He just reaffirmed that the full breakdown of the numbers would be provided at a later date.
Ossoff then moved on to ask about a proposed $17-18 billion cut to the medical services portion of the budget. Collins clarified that it is not a cut because that funding will be appropriated for a different purpose.
Ossoff pointed out that the cuts would be made to medical services and not medical care. He then repeated his question and demanded to know what personnel would be cut.
Collins couldn’t give a straight answer and reassured that he would provide details later. In response, Ossoff stated, “Today is the budget hearing where you justify the budget request. So, how do you justify this cut to medical services, and who are you going to fire in order to pay for it?”
Sen. Jon Ossoff concluded that the budget proposal was insufficient. He then suggested that the committee would have to reconvene when the full breakdown was provided.
