The Department of Veterans Affairs has delayed the public release of its annual veterans suicide report, which is issued every December, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. (Joshua Seybert/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has delayed the public release of its annual veterans suicide report, which is issued every December, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, questioned VA Secretary Doug Collins about the overdue annual report, which is an in-depth look at the number of suicides among veterans. Blumenthal said the report was completed in September.
“Well, it’s overdue, can you provide it? ... I think you owe it to Congress and veterans that the report is issued,” Blumenthal said Wednesday during a tense exchange with the VA secretary at a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing.
Collins declined to explain the delay at the hearing or offer a date for when Congress will receive it.
By late Thursday afternoon, the VA said it was pushing back the release date to February.
The document — called the VA’s National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report — is an in-depth look at veterans suicides, including by age group and gender. The report is released to the public when it is issued to Congress. The VA last issued the report in December 2024.
Preventing veterans’ suicide is a clinical priority at the VA. Veterans are roughly 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than people who’ve never served in the military, according to the VA. Contributing factors include post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction and the effects of traumatic brain injuries.
Data from the annual report helps the agency make decisions on prevention programs to fund and informs its long-term strategy for reducing veterans suicides.
The veterans suicide report is prepared by the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, which administers the national veterans crisis line (dial 988, then press 1; or text 838255) and implements suicide prevention programs nationwide.
The VA said Thursday that the federal government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, 2025, interrupted work on the report.
But Blumenthal said the report was completed in September. A VA web page on suicide prevention that archives the yearly reports also showed they are completed in September.
Blumenthal claimed that VA staff took steps to prevent the report from being sent to Congress in a timely manner. He said VA staff made a “non-concur” on the report, a formal declaration that stopped it from being transmitted to Congress.
A nonconcurrence signals a disagreement by an agency’s leaders or lawmakers with a report’s findings.
Collins said he knew nothing about a formal effort to halt the release. “Hopefully it will be out very soon,” he said.
The annual report is compiled in part with information from the National Vital Statistics System, which contains data on deaths from all causes from every U.S. county. The 2025 report will contain an analysis of 2023 suicide data among veterans.
Blumenthal also questioned Collins about information he’s received on veterans encountering longer waits for mental health care. Veterans with serious mental health problems are at a higher risk of suicide.
“Average wait times at many facilities (are) over 50 days,” Blumenthal said.
Collins disputed Blumenthal’s statement.
The national average wait for an appointment for new patients is 18.8 days, Collins said, and the average wait time for established patients is 5.8 days. Veterans in crisis receive immediate help, he said.
In 2024, the annual veterans suicide report showed that 17.6 veterans, on average, died by suicide per day. The rate was based on data from 2022.
The number of reported veterans suicides was 6,407.
Nationwide, there is a severe shortage of mental health providers — driven by high demand for care, job burnout and an aging workforce, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges. Vacancies for providers are higher in rural and remote areas.
