VA Secretary, Doug Collins
WASHINGTON, DC – Following a 77-23 Senate vote confirming him as the 12th VA Secretary earlier this month, Douglas Collins released a message on X.
“The VA will be so America-first focused, because America first puts our veterans first,” he said. “To the employees at the VA, you’re not going to have a better friend than me, because I’m gonna raise the bar. I’m gonna hold you accountable. Because we have a job to do.”
As for what exactly that means, there were some indicators in his January confirmation hearing, which focused heavily on the budget, the role of community care and the future of the electronic healthcare record. It also touched on what seems to be the inevitable reversal of the department’s interim rule allowing clinicians to provide abortion care.
Collins is a trained lawyer who served two years in the Navy as a chaplain in the 1980s and later joined the United States Air Force Reserve Command, where he presently serves as a chaplain at the rank of Colonel. Collins was stationed at Balad Air Base for five months in 2008.
He went on to serve three terms in the George House of Representatives and two in the U.S. House of Representatives before losing a run for the U.S. Senate in 2020.
One philosophy that Collins said he will take into his new role is that VA is not so unique that it cannot overcome the same difficulties that other healthcare systems face.
“The VA is special, but it’s not unique,” he told the committee. “It’s special in who we keep and who we [have in our] trust…but it’s not unique in the sense that we do healthcare.”
VA, he said, should not be given a pass when failing to overcome the same hurdles faced by healthcare systems in the private sector. He intends to apply this philosophy specifically to the installation of the new Oracle EHR, the continued rollout of which Collins feels confident the VA can achieve, and at a faster pace than previously planned.
“When I say that we’re going to make this a priority, for me, it means looking at it with fresh eyes,” Collins explained. “We’re going to talk to the vendor… We’re going to listen to our clinicians. We’re going to listen to our hospitals. There’s no reason in the world we can’t get this done.”
At the end of last year, VA announced plans for the electronic health record (HER) roll-out to continue at VA facilities in Michigan in 2026. Collins says VA can do better.
“I’m not sure why [it would take a year],” he said. “I believe we can do it properly and not rush… I believe there’s enough information there that we can get it done quicker.”
There were probing questions about the budget, and whether Collins would stand up to any demand for deep cuts in VA funding.
“I know it’s a mandate from President Trump to cut the size of the government, [and I need to know] that you will always speak up on behalf of veterans, not just do the bidding of someone who…sees your numbers and decide to slash and burn,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) told Collins.
“I was told by the president to take care of our veterans,” Collins said. “We’re not going to sacrifice veterans’ benefits to do a budget.”
Entwined with the budget is the issue of community care, and whether its expansion will come at the expense of VA facilities.
“Where are we going to put our resources? Are we going to allow VA to wither on the vine, so to speak?” asked Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT).
Collins said he believed one does not have to come at the expense of the other.
“I believe you can have both,” he said. “I believe you can have a strong VA as it currently exists, and you can have community care.”
The questioning turned several times to abortion, with Democrats asking Collins whether he would seek to overturn a 2022 rule allowing VA to provide counseling and abortion care when the pregnancy endangered the life of the veteran or when it was a result of rape or incest. The rule was created after the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade in June 2022 and the subsequent criminalizing of abortion in several states. At the time, VA’s general counsel determined the rule did not contradict a 1992 law forbidding VA from providing abortion services, because the VA Secretary has the power to expand services when the health of veterans is at risk.
Collins would not directly say whether he intended to overturn the rule, merely that he “will be looking at that issue to make sure VA is following the law.”
However, Collins is staunchly anti-abortion and made headlines following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 20202 when he tweeted, “RIP to the more than 30 million innocent babies that have been murdered during the decades that Ruth Bader Ginsburg defended pro-abortion laws.”
He also addressed several executive orders that President Trump filed during his first day in office. One requires agency heads to terminate remote work as quickly as possible.
“I do believe people need to come to work,” Collins said. “The president has made that very clear… My hospital employees, if I’m confirmed, have to show up every day.”
Another executive order is a hiring freeze on federal civilian employees. The order has several exceptions, and notes that “nothing in this memorandum shall adversely impact the provision of Social Security, Medicare, or veterans’ benefits.”
Asked whether the language in the order can be applied to positions on the healthcare side of the department, Collins said, “We’re still examining that, but we support the president’s initiative here in the freeze.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) pointed out that there are thousands of openings at VHA–key healthcare roles that facilities have been struggling to fill.
“I’m asking you to fight to fill the openings,” Blumenthal said. “Those folks are needed to care for veterans. Will you seek an exception from the hiring freeze for those positions that concern veterans’ care?”
Collins would not commit and again defended the executive order.
“There were openings yesterday. There were openings last week,” he said. “The president is doing a prudent step in making sure we have a good handle on what we need going forward.”
