A clash over the future of the Department of Veterans Affairs
It’s that time of year on Capitol Hill, when hundreds and hundreds of veterans flood the hallways to make their voices heard. Once again, their message to Congress is that change is needed at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
And again in 2026, VA Secretary Doug Collins, the former Georgia congressman, finds himself mixing it up with lawmakers and veterans’ groups.
A year ago, vets sounded off against cuts at the VA by the Department of Government Efficiency initiative. They worried about how it would impact the VA health care mission.
In 2026, the same concerns remain.
“The VA stands at a crossroads,” said Coleman Nee, a top official with the Disabled American Veterans.
While working to clear up claim backlogs and make other internal changes, Collins has aggressively pushed back against critics. To that end, he’s repeatedly accused reporters and Democrats of making false allegations about VA cuts.
But that came back to bite him in recent days.
Faced with criticism over a new VA disability rule, which veterans groups claimed would reduce benefits, Collins wasted no time going on the attack.
“This is fake news!” he tweeted, denouncing critics.
Not even 24 hours later, Collins backed down, acknowledging the uproar among veterans.
“No veteran should be penalized for taking the medication they need to survive,” Nee of the DAV said, drawing loud applause at a joint House-Senate hearing.
Officials from the Veterans of Foreign Wars will likely emphasize that same message at hearings next week.
“We now invite VA Secretary Doug Collins to work with us to create a responsible solution,” the VFW said in a statement.
Democrats were less generous to their former colleague from Georgia.
“Mr. Secretary, if you are listening, I call on you to rescind this rule immediately,” U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said to applause.
Democrats haven’t seen eye-to-eye with Collins on very much, especially after he floated plans to trim up to 83,000 jobs and then tried to accuse Democrats of playing that up as part of a political scare tactic.
“Neither of these major actions were planned with input from Congress,” huffed Takano. “Doing more with less has never worked for veterans.”
In the same breath though, even Democrats admit change is needed at the VA — but taking those steps can be politically perilous.
Back when Jimmy Carter was President, his White House budget director — Georgia’s Bert Lance — had a saying about the government.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Lance argued.
The VA may not be broken, but everyone knows it could work better. How to fix it with bipartisan support remains a political puzzle. How to do it without a VA secretary yelling loudly at his critics could be part of the answer.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
