Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins testifies Tuesday, June 24, 2025, during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the VA’s proposed budget for fiscal 2026. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON — Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins acknowledged Tuesday in the waning minutes of a contentious budget hearing with Senate appropriators that the Department of Government Efficiency continues to work at VA headquarters with access to the agency’s contracts and services.

But Collins did not disclose whether the three workers assigned to the VA’s Washington office from DOGE — the group formed by tech billionaire Elon Musk — have authority and permission to review the medical records of veterans.

“They’re advisers. They’re looking through our contracts and stuff like that,” Collins said in response to repeated questions by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s subpanel on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies.

The hearing was to review the $441.3 billion spending plan that the VA has proposed for fiscal 2026, which starts Oct. 1. This spending proposal is 10% higher than the 2025 budget.

But Ossoff, the top Democrat on the subpanel, complained several times at the hearing about “unresponsiveness” by Collins on his stated plans to downsize the VA as federal agencies follow President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut staff.

“Congress and this subcommittee are going to continue to ask for information about your plans and intentions and department operations because, as you know from your time in Congress, that’s our job. We can’t legislate just based on someone’s word or promise,” Ossoff said.

Collins, a military chaplain and former Georgia congressman, said his early focus as VA secretary is to make the agency more effective by reducing administration and bureaucracy.

The VA is the second-largest federal agency after the Defense Department.

“I am trying to make sure that veterans remain the focus and not the organization itself,” Collins said.

But he provided few details on the role of representatives from DOGE at VA headquarters. Collins said the DOGE workers serve in advisory roles at the agency’s headquarters.

Musk, as a senior adviser to Trump, sent handpicked technology workers from DOGE into federal agencies to review operations and root out waste. Though Musk recently departed from Washington, Collins said the work of DOGE continues.

“You’re talking about our liaisons [from DOGE] who actually work for the VA,” Collins said in response to questions from Ossoff about the group’s involvement.

“Have they accessed VA patient medical records?” Ossoff asked.

“They are acting in their role as a normal VA employee would do and are authorized to do anything that they’re currently doing,” Collins responded.

Collins then told Ossoff that he would seek to provide more information after the hearing.

“I’ll be happy to take these further for the record,” he said.

Collins emphasized throughout the hearing that he is trying new approaches to deliver benefits and services faster and more effectively. He said he is working to provide veterans easier access to medical care, improve the quality of VA services and make certain that there is efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

Two million disability claims have been processed in fiscal 2025, which is 14% higher than 2024, Collins said. The backlog of veterans claims, which was 260,000 in February, is now less than 190,000, he said.

But Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., the subcommittee chairman, said at the start of the hearing that “the subcommittee has yet to receive justification materials” to support spending requests for 2026 because of delays by the VA.

“These are essential to the committee’s work,” he said.

Boozman also told Collins that VA’s stated plans to cut the size of its workforce and reorganize the agency have led to numerous calls from veterans about potential impacts on health care, benefits and services.

“Members are hearing from our constituents regularly on this,” he said. “This subcommittee wants to ensure you have the right people in the right roles.”

Budget figures for 2026 show spending for non-VA medical care by private doctors will grow from $22.5 billion to $34 billion, and funding for VA medical services would decrease from $69 billion to $57 billion.

Collins said a big challenge facing the VA is recruiting and hiring doctors and other medical personnel who can get much higher salaries in the private sector.

He said doctors can earn twice as much in the private sector as they do at the VA. He suggested there is a need to reconsider salary levels for the VA’s top medical personnel.

Collins said his plan for fiscal 2026 is to “maintain mission-essential jobs,’’ such as doctors, nurses and claims processors, but reduce administrative and managerial posts.

“In 2024, discussions in Congress about the need to reform VA were often just a thinly veiled request for more employees. But the department’s history shows that adding more employees to the system does not automatically mean better results,” he said.

Collins said the number of VA employees grew by more than 52,000 from fiscal 2021 to 2024. He said the VA now employs 465,000 workers.

“Did all those extra people make things better for veterans? No. In fact, VA’s performance got worse, as health care wait times rose and the number of veterans waiting for disability benefits increased. Something must change, and it is up to us to make that change,” he said.