WASHINGTON – Today, during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Doug Collins to serve as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a Marine Corps combat veteran who personally uses VA services, questioned Collins about his plans to strengthen programs aimed at preventing veteran suicide and addressing veteran homelessness.
“This is very personal to me. Being a Marine, Iraq veteran, as someone who has used VA healthcare services and also receives a disability rating from them, making sure the VA continues to be foremost [in] taking care of our veterans is important to me, especially in Arizona,” said Senator Gallego.
First, Senator Gallego asked Collins to commit to working with Arizona lawmakers to support the Be Connected program, a suicide prevention initiative for Arizona’s veterans. Despite its success, the Phoenix VA has announced plans to cut funding due to budget constraints. Gallego asked Collins to commit to identifying alternative funding sources to keep the program alive and ensure Arizona veterans continue to receive these vital services.
Collins noted that he would make it a priority to fund programs aimed at ending veteran suicide and homelessness.
“It concerns me as a VA that there would be concerns about funding a program that actually goes to one of my major concerns, the issue of death by suicide – or even the homelessness issue as well. Those are the kinds of programs I think are priorities. From my perspective, as a secretary, it is going to be about priorities,” said Collins. “Budget items will match up to the priorities.”
Senator Gallego also asked Collins about his plans to strengthen a collaboration between the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to combat rising veteran homelessness. The program pairs housing vouchers with VA support services to help veterans experiencing homelessness find stable housing. In Arizona alone, nearly 1,000 veterans are homeless.
In response, Collins emphasized his commitment to working across agencies to address veteran homelessness.
Watch the hearing here.