Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins warned Wednesday of further impacts to government services for former service-members amid the ongoing government shutdown, urging Congress to “pass the bill” expeditiously and reopen the government.
Speaking from the Washington, D.C., VA Medical Center on the 22nd day of the government shutdown, Collins noted that veterans’ health care and disability benefits continued despite the lapse in appropriation, but warned of longer wait times for those seeking services and decried the impact on VA employees now forced to work without pay.
“Our clinics are operating. They're going through exactly what they've been doing all along,” Collins said.
But due to the shutdown, those processing benefit payments are doing so without pay, as are employees in VA cemeteries.
Collins estimated that more than 30,000 VA employees were currently furloughed due to the shutdown, and said that number was likely to rise to nearly 50,000 as the shutdown dragged on and funding ran out.
A VA official later told reporters in an email more than 100,000 veterans and applicants for the agency’s Veteran Readiness and Employment program were unable to receive counseling or case management services due to the shutdown, while more than 16,000 separating service members were unable to receive assistance transitioning to civilian life and nearly a million unable to get information from the VA’s Education Call Center.
“We have some people who are trying to make a life outside of their time in the service, and they can't do this because Congress has decided that they want to shut the government down,” Collins said. “They're able to still get help. It's just going to be slower in doing so.”
The VA Secretary placed the blame for the shutdown squarely on Democrats in the Senate, who’ve thus far refused to support any funding extension absent action to extend some government health insurance premium subsidies for Americans that receive insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace extensions, set to expire at the end of this year.
Asked if he had any concerns about the coming subsidy expirations, Collins said he did not.
“Our healthcare is outstanding at the VA, and we're not affected by this,” Collins said. “Am I holding out sympathy for those who are not paying our Air Traffic Controllers, who really voted not to pay our troops? Not really.”
Earlier Wednesday, Collins sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) expressing similar concerns about the shutdown, urging him to “act swiftly” and vote to reopen the government to restore VA services for veterans.
Representatives for Schumer did not respond to a Scripps News inquiry about the letter.
Despite his avowed frustration about the impact of the shutdown on VA employees, Collins defended controversial moves from the White House that some critics say harm government employees as a means of forcing Democrats’ hand.
The Secretary said he agreed with the White House Office of Management and Budget’s argument that government workers furloughed during the shutdown are not automatically entitled to back pay once it ends, despite a federal law seeming to indicate they are.
“The White House interpreted it accurately when they said that is subject to appropriations,” Collins told Scripps News. “It's up to Congress to fund it. I believe that Congress will, and I believe our folks will get paid, but that's the way the law reads.”
Collins also defended an earlier decision to reclassify the VA as a national security agency instead of a health care and medical one, enabling officials to terminate most VA employees’ union bargaining agreements. Such a move directly impacts federal employees, as the Trump administration has argued in court that only employees within such unions are bound by a judge’s order temporarily blocking mass layoffs during the shutdown.
Pressed by Scripps News about the reclassification, when the Secretary himself earlier in his remarks noted that upwards of 90% of VA employees work on health care, Collins argued the VA’s role as a backstop to the military and civil service in times of national emergency justified such a move.
“What we just stated is the obvious fact that we've been for many years, is to say this is our priority,” Collins said. “We're not going to be bound by things that keep us from that national security interest, and that's where we're at right now.”
When the reorganization was first announced, a number of federal employee unions spoke out forcefully against it.
“VA healthcare professionals rely on their union membership to safely report mismanagement, expose cover-ups, and push back against political interference and corrupt private contracting,” Randy Erwin, President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said at the time. “Eliminating unions eliminates those safeguards, which is exactly why they’re doing it. This is going to be a disaster for veterans’ care.”
“Secretary Collins’ decision to rip up the negotiated union contract for the majority of its workforce is another clear example of retaliation against AFGE members for speaking out against the illegal, anti-worker, and anti-veteran policies of this administration,” echoed American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley.
Asked for his message to those critics, Collins said he urged them to “come to work and have a good time with the VA.”
“You're just not having collective bargaining, right? This is not against them or anything else. It's about our mission, and our mission comes first. The mission of the veteran, and mission of taking care of our national security interests will always come first,” Collins added.
Representatives for the NFFE and AFGE did not immediately respond to Scripps News’ inquiries about Collins’ latest comments.
