WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins said Democrats are trying to “scare” voters by claiming the agency is “cutting veterans benefits.”
“No critical services cut. And they keep saying that to scare people because that’s the only tool they have left, is to try and scare people,” said Collins.
Top Republicans say they trust Collins to lead the department. Democrats, however, have not expressed faith that cutting $98 million through dismissals won’t harm veterans.
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“We’re not cutting critical health care, we’re not cutting health care benefits. We’re not cutting benefits,” Collins said on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Wednesday she is seeking answers about how the layoffs may have affected efforts to prevent suicide through the confidential Veterans Crisis Line.
In a call with journalists, the Illinois Democrat said her staff heard from VA employees who worked for the crisis line or supported the VA claims process. She said two from Illinois may have been reinstated after she intervened, “but they’re still locked out of their portal, so I don’t know if they actually have been rehired.”
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Collins vehemently denied that veteran care was impacted.
“We did not cut any veteran crisis line responders who actually pick up the phone and talk to those who need to talk to a veteran crisis line,” he said. “They’re trying to use that with some other things that were going on in the back offices that did not happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
