The Trump administration Cabinet member with the toughest sales job these days on Capitol Hill may be former Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, who runs the Department of Veterans Affairs.
But some of that is of his own making.
Back in early March, word leaked out of plans to slash as many as 83,000 jobs at the VA — a cut of about 15%. That news alarmed veterans groups and lawmakers.
What will be cut? What will change? Who will be fired? No one knew.
Two months later, there still is no official VA plan — and when Collins tangled with senators at a hearing this week, he had nothing new to offer concerned lawmakers.
“You cannot set out a goal and then get angry at us for asking what the impacts of that goal and those cuts would be,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., told Collins, as Democrats pressed for details.
Over the past two months, Collins has aggressively accused the news media and critics in Congress of fearmongering about a 15% cut in VA staff.
“I will not let you sit here and scare my veterans and scare my employees,” Collins told senators, talking about his own effort to cut the size of the VA workforce.
At one point at Tuesday’s hearing, Collins mocked Democrats for saying there would be 83,000 jobs cut at the VA — but then acknowledged that’s his goal.
“It’s a nice talking point,” Collins said dismissively to Hassan, who was not amused.
“Talking point?” the New Hampshire senator shot back. “It is your talking point. We are quoting you saying that’s the goal.”
“It is our goal,” said Collins, who quickly gave himself some wiggle room. “The goal is not a fact.”
Let’s stop for a moment to emphasize that there is nothing wrong with Collins proposing changes at the VA. No one believes operations there are perfect, whether in health care or benefits.
But you can’t be surprised that lawmakers and veterans want details — as it’s not just Democrats worried by the lack of specifics on the goal of cutting 83,000 jobs.
“It ought not be a set number,” said U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, who chairs the Senate Veterans Committee. “It ought to be about rightsizing.”
Fellow Republicans are feeling some heat about the VA plans. For example, the head of the House Veterans Committee, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., this week called the idea of cutting 83,000 VA jobs “a lie being told by the Democrats.”
Actually, as Collins said, that’s the goal of the Trump administration. And Congress is still waiting on the details.
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
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