Newly confirmed Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins vowed to make veterans his top priority, emphasizing his commitment to "mission one" during an appearance on Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda."
"The first and foremost thing is they've got a secretary who's going to actually take care of our veterans," said Collins, a former Georgia congressman, Navy veteran, and Air Force Reserve chaplain.
"[President] Donald Trump told me to take care of veterans. I'm pleased to accept that mantle proudly," he said.
Collins outlined his plan to ensure veterans receive quality healthcare, education benefits, and housing support. He emphasized improving VA facilities, expanding access to community care, and ensuring benefits are efficiently delivered.
"We're going to make sure that the VA is doing mission one and mission one only, and that is taking care of our veterans," Collins said. "Whether it's through their healthcare in our VA facilities, whether it's through community care, where they can get their care in the community and the choices that they want, whether it's getting the benefits that they've earned ... education, housing, and [assistance with] disabilities."
A key focus, he said, will be addressing mental health issues, particularly veteran suicide. Collins pointed to a troubling statistic: about 40% of the estimated 17 veteran suicides per day involve individuals who had no contact with the VA.
"Think about that for a second," Collins said. "If we had no opportunity to help this individual get a perspective on life that is about life and not the realities or their fear of what was going on in their life and the problems, the mental health issues, maybe even addictions — those kinds of things."
To combat this crisis, Collins said the VA will increase outreach through multiple platforms, including podcasts and in-person visits, to ensure veterans are aware of available resources.
"We're going to up our game," he said. "I'm going to go to as many outlets as I can, just like President Trump did" to get the message out.
Collins shared a success story from the VA's crisis line, where two veterans in distress chose life over suicide after speaking with trained professionals.
"This week, I got to talk to two of our veteran crisis line members who talked two veterans into life instead of death," he said. "There's two people living today because our workers in the VA on those crisis lines took the time to make sure life was chosen."
Collins stressed that taking care of veterans is a responsibility that requires efficiency and accountability.
"We're going to make sure that those who have earned the benefit actually can take advantage of that benefit," he said, "and do it in an efficient way — not in a way that wastes taxpayer dollars but focuses those dollars on making sure that the veterans are taken care of."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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