'Who Exactly Are You Planning To Let Go?': Tim Kennedy Grills Secretary Doug Collins Over VA Cuts

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At Thursday's House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY) questioned VA Sec. Doug Collins.

Transcript

00:00You're recognized for 11 minutes.

00:02Seven minutes.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:05I'll take whatever I can get here.

00:08Secretary Collins, first of all, thank you for being here today.

00:11Thank you for your service to our country.

00:14I represent the Buffalo-Niagara region in New York, home of the Western New York VA system,

00:20including the Buffalo VA Medical Center and one of the nation's two GI Bill processing centers.

00:27During my time in office, I've had the privilege of meeting with many VA employees, often veterans

00:34themselves, who take immense pride in continuing their service to support their fellow veterans.

00:41Unfortunately, in these meetings, VA staff at every level have raised serious concerns,

00:48including plummeting morale and an increased stress due to the threat of sudden firings

00:56and what they feel is a climate of fear, PTSD and mental health strains stemming from constant

01:03job insecurity, the rollback of collective bargaining rights and attempts to strip employees of their

01:10voice, rigid and poorly thought out return to office mandates without adequate infrastructure

01:17or workspace to carry out mission critical duties and worsening understaffing, which is leaving teams

01:27stretched even thinner than they were to begin with.

01:31And that list doesn't stop there.

01:33Those are just a few.

01:34The issues demand urgent attention from you and your team.

01:40Mr. Secretary, your testimony claims improvements to veterans' care, yet you're eliminating positions

01:45essential to handling the increased PACT Act cases.

01:50Cutting these roles removed skilled, experienced staff who directly assist our veterans.

01:58Outside consultants and political appointees obviously cannot do this work.

02:02Neither can AI.

02:04VA employees in my district work tirelessly to deliver care and benefits.

02:08They're not faceless bureaucrats.

02:10They're honoring our promise to our veterans.

02:12And your testimony states that VA aims to place employees where they're needed, reduce unnecessary

02:19overhead, and strategically cut staff.

02:23Now, I've asked this question repeatedly of this administration, still haven't received

02:27a clear answer.

02:29How do you plan to reduce staff without affecting care?

02:32Who exactly are you planning to let go?

02:34What are their roles?

02:35What qualifies as unnecessary overhead?

02:39And what safeguards are in place to ensure that these cuts don't further strain an already

02:45short-staffed system or reduce access to vital services for our veterans?

02:49Congressman, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the question and the overall expansiveness

02:53of it.

02:53Let me just answer in the best way possible, as I've said before.

02:57And I've made several comments already on concerning consolidation.

03:00We've seen areas of work that may be in payroll and our HR systems, those kind of things.

03:05The people that you're speaking to who actually handle disability claims, who actually move

03:08forward these processes are not the people that are involved.

03:11In fact, we've exempted 300,000-plus positions to make sure that those are actually the positions

03:17we need, that we're going to keep, and that we're hiring.

03:20And right now, in any one time we look at this and going forward, and there's been something

03:26that's been said a couple of times, and I want to address it here.

03:28There is no, especially going forward in our look at our reorganization process, there's

03:34no such thing as a sudden firing, because this is a process that is going through, and

03:38as we get to the level of where we are able to say, here's what our structure looks like,

03:42here's how we're trying to look at this, and here's how we're going to be maybe rolling

03:45this out, there's going to be the notice to the employees, there's going to be notice

03:48as we go forward in this.

03:49So it's not an issue of sudden firings.

03:51I would hope that that would get through to, especially our employees who are on front lines,

03:55again, they're not part of what we're looking at, especially in the duplicative services.

04:02In looking at this, and I do have one other question, if you don't mind, for just a second.

04:05I appreciate the question, and I won't be able to answer it.

04:07The adequate office space.

04:08You've got to move quick.

04:09I have more, please.

04:09No, I will.

04:10One last thing.

04:11Adequate office space issue.

04:12Anybody that's brought back from our work processes that are not in spaces that fulfill their duty,

04:18the supervisor in that position is not fulfilling the role because it is stated clearly that no one

04:26is to be brought back into a position in which they're not able to do their job.

04:30So if that is happening, then we'll hold supervisors accountable and make sure that's happening.

04:33They're not going to be able to.

04:34I hope that answers.

04:35The consolidation of space, I will just say, when it comes especially to dealing with our veterans

04:41and mental health services, when you are in confined spaces and you have practitioners

04:47that are providing those services, oftentimes via a virtual space, that is a problem when

04:56they're in a consolidated space.

04:58These veterans are not feeling comfortable sharing privileged, confidential, very personal

05:03information.

05:04So that is something that has to be dealt with.

05:06But I want to also go back because, look, we've heard from so many different veterans

05:11that are concerned.

05:13I want to just clarify, you know, in the first week of this administration, there were cuts.

05:19There was 1,000 cuts at first, then another 1,400.

05:22Then there was your memo talking about going back to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

05:30I know you've discussed this.

05:32This was just a goal.

05:3383,000 people would be cut.

05:37That is all concerning, all pre-PACT Act as well, when those people were hired specifically

05:43to deal with our veterans that have had these horrific injuries fighting for our country.

05:50So I think there needs to be a consistent message.

05:53I'm very concerned.

05:54I know our veterans are worried.

05:56They're fearful.

05:57And those that are employees as well.

05:59And, Mr. Secretary, you talk about over in the Senate, those service-disabled veterans

06:04that are waiting to be approved by the Senate.

06:07There are service-disabled veterans that have served this country and are serving in the

06:12hospitals and the VA system today that are getting cut and are losing their jobs because

06:20of this administration that is not treating them with the dignity and the respect that they

06:26have earned and they deserve.

06:28You've visited multiple VA facilities, Mr. Secretary, and spoken with non-healthcare staff like VBA

06:34employees, electricians, maintenance workers.

06:36I know we discussed this earlier today.

06:40I think we agree.

06:41These roles face similar challenges across the country.

06:44So why did the Milwaukee VA preserve these collective bargaining rights for nurses and facility

06:49workers while employees in the Buffalo VA and Buffalo VA lost theirs, even though their

06:55job functions are identical?

06:58And I will just say that the clear difference to me is that there is union affiliation.

07:04And it seems like retaliation.

07:07The Buffalo VA employees are represented by three different unions that have filed lawsuits.

07:12Can you please elaborate and discuss how these determinations were made?

07:16I think from that perspective, I'll be very simple here because it's going through a process

07:21right now of legal issues as well as they were made following the EO from the president

07:26to go forward on this.

07:27And we're following that.

07:28And, of course, they're going through any of the issues that are currently under litigation.

07:33Mr. Siskamani.

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