Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins told Newsmax on Wednesday that he is focused on getting veterans what they need, despite the "bureaucratic maze" at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"Unfortunately, we've gotten to a point where the VA was more about itself than it was the veterans," Collins said on "National Report." "So, what we've done with the cuts, with contracts that we've found that we've talked about, how we've redirected funds back to the frontline of health care, we're putting more money in. We put out a policy just this past week concerning gender dysphoria and that we're no longer going to promote the process of changing one's sex.
"If you're currently in the VA and getting hormone treatments, you'll continue it, but we're not going to do that anymore here and I think most people would agree with us. It's a pretty common sense thing to do because that's not what we're about at the VA. We're going to take that money that we would be spending and put it toward disabled veterans and prosthetics and things like that."
Collins said the "bureaucratic maze" is "really difficult" for VA employees to "actually work through" and reiterated his goal of prioritizing veterans by redirecting money toward their health care.
"My goal is to make sure that we're being efficient, but also finding solutions, to not only how much money we're spending, but are we doing it in a way that helps the veterans get what they need," he said.
Collins also explained the importance of honoring America's veterans, which he said President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance did during a Tuesday ceremony marking "Medal of Honor Day."
"It was pretty amazing being there with the president and the vice president," Collins said. "He deeply admires and deeply loves our veterans and it's shown in everything that he's done. He walked in there yesterday and one of the things that he said [to the veteran honorees] is, 'I like being with you. You make me feel brave.'"
Medal of Honor recipients are people "who did extraordinary things," Collins said, and "came from normal, ordinary backgrounds to do amazing things for our country that are above and beyond any simple call of duty."
"It's our honor to stand with them," he said. "It's our honor to be with them and to hear them just humbly come up and say, 'We're just glad to be here.' These are people who deserve our respect, deserve our honor, for what they have done for our country."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.