New Detroit Secretary of Veterans Affairs defends DOGE cuts during VA visit
Secretary of Veterans Affairs defends job cuts during VA visit
It's also a system experiencing serious uncertainty as the Department of Government Efficiency targets 80-thousand workers for job cuts - potentially hundreds right here at the Detroit VA... which serves 350-thousand veterans in Michigan.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Amid a booming threat of job cuts for VA workers, the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Detroit says he is all for it.
Employees at the John D. Dingell Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit were honored for saving lives, and on Tuesday, met the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins.
"I've been at Battle Creek, I've been to Ann Arbor. Now I've been here in Detroit and this is a system that is on the rise," Collins said.
Big picture view:
It's also a system experiencing serious uncertainty as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targets 80,000 workers for job cuts, potentially hundreds, at the Detroit VA, which serves 350,000 veterans in Michigan.
Democratic lawmakers joined with protesters outside Detroit's VA back in February, worried that cuts will harm veterans - those who utilize the VA - and the many who work for the VA.
The other side:
But Collins, defending the cuts, said the VA is at high risk of fraud, waste, and abuse, impacting patient quality and patient care.
The cuts, he claims, will make the VA more efficient disability claims will be handled faster - electronic health records will finally be available and the system will be better for those who serve.
"For anybody saying we're worried about this, all I'll say is this, don't scare my veterans and don't scare my VA employees, we're working on a methodical pattern to make their life better - that may mean with less employees, but we're going to make the employees that we have, put them back in roles that help our veterans," he said.