Ahead of Veterans Day, Sec. Collins vows to keep improving VA services

WASHINGTON — VA Secretary Doug Collins released the following statement ahead of Veterans Day 2025: “America’s Veterans have made our country – and our military – the greatest in the world. On Veterans Day, we honor these patriots, celebrate them for protecting our freedoms and salute them for keeping us safe. “Keeping the promises America has made to its Veterans is the sole purpose of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I am proud of the work we’ve done under President Trump to transform VA from a bureaucratic organization to a service organization, cutting red tape and placing Veterans at the center of everything we do along the way. And we’re just getting started.” Key VA accomplishments during the second Trump Administration include: The backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits is down more than 49% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration. VA is processing record numbers of disability claims, reaching an all-time fiscal-year high of three million claims processed by Sept. 30. VA has opened 20 new health care clinics, expanding access for Veterans around the country. Since Jan. 20, VA has offered Veterans more than 1.4 million appointments outside of normal operating hours. These early-morning, evening and weekend appointments are giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care. VA is spending an additional $800 million on infrastructure improvements to ensure department facilities provide safe and effective patient care. The additional funds will come from savings gleaned from various VA reform efforts. VA has made it easier and faster for VA-enrolled Veterans to access care from non-VA providers at the department’s expense. VA has implemented major reforms to make it easier for survivors to get benefits, after serious problems during the Biden Administration. VA is accelerating the deployment of its integrated electronic health record system, after the program was nearly dormant for almost two years under the Biden Administration. VA partnered with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to identify and recover $106 million in duplicate billing. In fiscal year 2025, VA permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans – the most since FY2019. VA has brought tens of thousands of employees back to the office, where we can work better as a team to serve Veterans. VA has terminated union contracts for most bargaining unit employees and redirected millions in wasteful union spending back to Veterans. VA ended DEI at the department, reversing the divisive Biden-era policies and stopping more than $14 million in DEI spending. VA is phasing out treatment for gender dysphoria. Frankly, this commonsense reform should have been done years ago.