WASHINGTON — In an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins pushed back on criticism that the Trump administration's wide-scale government downsizing effort could have negative impacts on his department, instead vowing to “fix” the sprawling agency tasked with providing lifelong services to the nation’s veterans.

And despite previous pledges to cut the agency's staff by 15%, Collins said those numbers were a "goal" but that cuts have yet to proceed in full and the merits of cutting staff by that much were actively being assessed. The former Georgia congressman ordered a ”thorough and thoughtful” department-wide review of the agency last month in response to the U.S. Doge Service’s efforts that was set to include the 15% reduction in staff.

“First off, 15% is a goal,” he said. “I mean, we're looking through right now to see if that's what is actually needed in our area to make sure that we can maintain the twin goals of making sure healthcare and our benefits are processed and our benefit claims processed in a timely manner, healthcare being provided as well.”

“I've got, especially unions and members of Congress, in the House and the Senate, and others who are complaining now ‘you're changing things at the VA, you're making it worse,’” Collins contended. “In fact, we're making it better.”

The department has publicized the firings of probationary employees but those layoffs have been caught up in court battles, and Collins proclaimed that as of Wednesday that no one had been cut. 

“We've not done any, we're still in the stage of getting our data together,” Collins said. 

He noted that an offer for deferred resignation to employees has been extended. 

The secretary cited addressing the department’s claims backlog as one of his highest priorities at the helm of the agency. The department says it processed its one million disability claim in particular for the 2025 fiscal year by February 20, noting it reached the threshold two weeks quicker than the previous fiscal year. Collins attributed the improvement to increased use of automation and a focus from employees, predicting a “big dent” in the backlog by the fall. 

“We're going to make a concerted effort at the [200,000 plus] backlog right now – that we're going to see a big dent come the fall in that, because we're putting a special effort to say, ‘let's get these things processed,’” Collins said. 

On healthcare for the nation’s service members, Collins touted that millions of dollars from around 600 eliminated non-mission-critical contacts – a result of the department-wide review – is being redirected to community care. He described the contract cuts as in the “digging stage” with another batch to come. 

“We're also moving money that we've found in savings to contracts – over $300 million – we're moving to community care so that we can make sure that our veterans are getting quicker access to their providers, either in the VA or in the community,” he said. 

But the proposed firings at the agency and the Trump’s administration’s downsizing effort – being carried out by the U.S. DOGE Service and Elon Musk – more broadly, has led to intense criticism from Democrats, who have sought to sound the alarm about potential cuts to veterans benefits. 

At a press conference specifically focused on the topic on Wednesday, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., referred to veterans as the “face of this administration’s cuts,” describing their treatment as “disturbing.” 

“As we are each painfully aware, in just a few short months under this administration, thousands of veterans have already lost their jobs,” she said, appearing to be referring to workforce cuts across the federal government. “Thousands more have lost their access to the VA system of healthcare and benefits or are at risk of losing it.” 

Collins insisted to Spectrum News that cuts to veterans benefits are “not even on the table,” calling such statements part of the “lies and innuendo that I've been having to fight for the last few months.”

“Healthcare benefits and disability benefits are statute, they’re in law,” he said. “Those are not even on the table.” 

The proposed reduction in workforce in particular led Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., to place a blanket hold on all nominations to the department. 

“Secretary Collins and DOGE cutting 83,000 jobs from the VA is extremely concerning, and for that reason, I will place a blanket hold on all VA nominees until Secretary Collins commits to abandoning this sloppy attempt to cut benefits and services for our nation’s veterans,” Gallego said in a statement. 

Collins said he wished Gallego would “spend more time helping us at the VA instead of grandstanding and trying to keep qualified leaders away from our senior leadership positions.” 

More generally, Collins characterized the influence of DOGE – which Musk once called the “biggest revolution to the government since the original revolution” – at his department as more simply a “fresh look” to make sure the department is “on track.” 

“Have you ever had somebody come into your home and they look around and you, say ‘hey, what can we do different here?’” he said of DOGE’s role at the VA. “And they take about five minutes, they look around and say, ‘Well, you can move those curtains and you can move this and look at how it opens it up.’” 

He said he has VA employees that are acting as a “liaison” with DOGE but stressed that all “final decisions” go through him. 

And just about two months into his tenure atop the sprawling agency, Collins said he could already put his goal for his time leading the department “very simply.”

“That he made a difference,” Collins said. “That he actually came in and saw something that needed to be fixed and went about to fix it so that our veterans have the best healthcare and the best benefits that they've earned given to them in a timely manner with an efficient organization that's properly manned.”