In letter accusing VA Secretary of ‘Cover-Up’, Democrats require answers to Doge-led VA firings

A group of Senates Democrats accused Secretary Doug Collins of helping with a “cover” as it required a response to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ recent layoffs of 2,400 trial staff.

In a letter Thursday, Collins and President Donald Trump, Democrats appointed the administration for all layoffs, but took special editions with cuts on Veteran’s Crisis Line, a key resource for veterans who may be considering suicide. While VA has insisted that no respondents on the hotline for suicide prevention were fired, Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-AILL, who organized the letter, appeared that at least two support staff for the crisis line was in the first round of firing before they were hired.

“To claim that only those who answer the phones at VCL are important is an insult to the service and obligation to veterans of the many dedicated employees who ensure that someone is ready to listen and help in a moment of crisis,” the senators wrote. “We are shocked that Secretary Collins, who claimed that one of his highest priorities as a VA Secretary would be to tackle veteran suicide, would participate in such cynical coverage for the Trump administration’s error-not only by going with the lies, but also justifying them.”

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In addition to Duckworth, the letter was signed by the Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla from California, Chris Van Hollen from Maryland, Tina Smith from Minnesota and Mark Kelly from Arizona.

When asked about the comment about the letter, a VA spokesman led Military.com to an OP-ED Collins wrote to the news site The Hill and a video Collins sent to social media about separate plans to shoot 83,000 VA employees later in the year. The spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for clarification as to whether VA had a comment on the contents of the letter, including the accusation that Collins is helping with a cover.

So far, VA has dismissed 2,400 test employees – defined as those recently hired, transferred or promoted – as part of the Trump administration’s swept effort to cut the federal government and re -record it in its image. The attack is led by the so -called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the White House Advisory Office led by billionaire Elon Musk.

The DOGE effort is expected to be supercharged on VA later in the year with plans to shoot more than 80,000 employees, which brings the department down to the level of employees, it had before a massive employment function intended to help implement the expansion of veteran -health services and benefits granted in PACT law.

With both the upcoming layoffs and the probationary, Collins has promised that veterans’ services would not be injured.

“We’re going to achieve this without making cuts in health care or benefits for veterans and VA recipients,” Collins said in a video on Wednesday about the planned 83,000 job cuts.

He similarly said in a statement last month about the trial period that these cuts “will not hurt the VA -Health Service, Benefits or Recipients.”

But in their letter on Thursday, the democratic senators claimed that the cuts “have increasingly had harmful effects on the veteran community and continues to create capacity holes that threaten the veterans’ well -being.”

“The arbitrary cleansing of veterans and other federal staff of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) means slower treatment requirements, longer waiting times for veterans seeking access to their medical treatment, and the end of important research that benefits veterans and all Americans,” they wrote. “We demand that you take responsibility for these actions and share with the American people what exactly the plan is for VA’s future.”

The senators demanded answers before March 12 of almost three pages value of trial questions, including a collapse of job category of who was fired.

They also pressed for more details specifically about the layoffs on Veterans Crisis Line, the number of how many disabled veterans have been fired, and lists of services that have been canceled or delayed since the layoffs started.

“Support to our veterans has historically been a top-notch question, and we do not want this long-standing tradition to fall because of a president and his VA Secretary turning their backs to our veterans because of the influence of a non-elected co-president who provides illegal privilege to invent the executive authorities,” wrote the senators and referred the Mosque. “He fools nobody with his efforts to link the wealthy pockets, and we will not stand by while there is an active attack on our country’s veterans.”

Related: ‘This is people ‘: va fires 1,400 more employees it considers not — essential

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