Senators Press VA Secretary on 15% 'Goal' to Reshape Workforce

Secretary Collins testified before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on workforce changes at the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying the department has a "goal" of a 15% reduction in staff as part of a broad review of VA operations.

The goal, Collins said, is intended to "increase productivity, eliminate waste, [and] improve health care" while preserving mission-essential roles. "Our goal as we look at it as everything goes forward, is a 15% decrease. It is a goal," Collins told the committee. He also said the figure could change: "If it's as the chairman said, it could be less, could be more. It is a goal that you have to look at."

Why it matters: Senators pressed Collins for specifics because VA employment and recent hiring have been directly tied to expanded benefits and care. Ranking Member Senator Richard Blumenthal warned that mass firings would harm services, saying, "Improvement is absolutely necessary, but it shouldn't be done with a chainsaw." Blumenthal and others cited reports of thousands of employees recently hired to implement laws such as the PACT Act and to staff expanded health-care and claims-processing functions.

Key facts and debate: - Secretary Collins said the VA payroll and human resources systems are disorganized, and cited difficulties assembling accurate employee lists. He told the committee the VA had about 470,000 employees on the payroll records he reviewed and that adding staff in recent years did not reliably improve wait times or other performance measures. - Collins said the disability-claims backlog was about 260,000 when he took office and that it had fallen by roughly 40,000 since then. - Senators repeatedly asked for concrete lists and analyses showing which occupational categories would be reduced; Collins repeatedly declined to release detailed, predecisional plans in public, saying the work is ongoing and that publishing deliberative details would be counterproductive. - Senators including Blumenthal, Senator Chris Murphy (via references in questioning), Senator Tammy Duckworth and others pressed Collins for assurances that frontline clinical roles would be preserved and that cuts would not undercut patient access. Collins said he would preserve "mission essential jobs like doctors, nurses, claims processors" while seeking reductions in what he described as nonessential roles.

Unresolved items and committee requests: Senators sought written follow-up on the categories and numbers of employees being considered for separation, the criteria used to identify positions for reduction, and the estimated costs and savings of separations versus rehiring or wrongful-termination settlements. Collins agreed to provide requested information to the committee staff.

Ending: The committee left the discussion without a final plan or public metrics; members asked for more complete staffing breakdowns and analyses. Collins defended the review as a necessary restructuring to improve veteran outcomes; senators asked for specific data, contingency analyses and assurances that any changes would be coordinated with VA clinical leadership and Congress.