VA Secretary defends plans for massive workforce cuts during Howell meeting with vets
HOWELL — U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins confirmed to Howell-area veterans Monday that he plans to cut the department by 80,000 employees, including some who are veterans, while pledging to improve health care and other services.
Collins asked veterans gathered at the American Legion Post 141 near Howell to hold him accountable if service improvements don't happen.
"We've got a lot of change coming up; it's putting the veteran first," said Collins, a former Georgia congressman who is also an attorney and military chaplain, and who was sworn in Feb. 5 as a member of President Donald Trump's cabinet.
"Motion causes friction," said Collins, who took friendly questions from the crowd of about 50 people and received a brief standing ovation at the end of his remarks. "There's going to be a lot of friction."
He said to remember that his department "is not an employment agency," but instead is about providing services. It can do that much better than it has been, but not if it keeps doing things the same way, he said.
Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an actual federal government department, has prompted cuts of at least 2,400 VA employees and recommended firing about 80,000 more.
Collins, joined by freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, is touring Veterans Affairs facilities in Michigan and meeting with veterans.
Barrett, who is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, wrote to Collins in early March, expressing concern about the potential impact of the workforce cuts and seeking assurances that only those who have "truly underperformed and not met the expectations of their assignment" will lose their jobs.
Asked whether those are the criteria as the department attempts a 15% workforce reduction, Collins suggested the government is looking more at job function than individual performance.
He said the government is looking at areas of the workforce that are not supporting the department's primary mission of providing health care and veteran benefits. Collins said the previous administration added positions such as publicists and "yoga instructors" who don't support the core mission.
"Where do we need help and where do we not need?" Collins told reporters. "That's really the criteria for what we're doing right now."
Asked whether Collins had given him satisfactory assurances about the concerns he raised in his letter, Barrett said he and Collins share a mission of delivering benefits to veterans in the most efficient way possible.
"That's going to take collaborative effort," and discussions between him and Collins continue, he said.
Collins told the veterans that cutting 80,000 people from the department is a goal.
"If we get there, great," he said. "But we may not get there."
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: VA Secretary defends massive workforce cuts during Howell speech
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