WASHINGTON – This week, during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee budget hearing,Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) pushed Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Doug Collins on how the President’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget will impact VA research opportunities into innovative therapies to treat conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorder, and depression. He also questioned the Secretary on how proposed staffing caps will affect the VA’s ability to provide quality care at the soon-to-open Yuma VA healthcare facility.
On Novel Therapeutics Research Funding
“Veterans facing PTSD, TBI, and treatment-resistant depression are looking to the VA to move faster in evaluating and supporting therapies that are showing promising results, especially for veterans who have exhausted their traditional treatment options,” said Senator Gallego.
Senator Gallego has introduced and backed several bills to expand veterans’ access to psychedelic-assisted therapies, including the Veterans Health Administration Novel Therapeutics Preparedness Act and the Innovative Therapies Centers of Excellence Act.
“We would really love a commitment for you to work with Congress on closing the gap between our research of these promising innovative therapies and veterans’ access to these treatments, because that’s usually the kind of gap that does exist,” Senator Gallego told the Secretary.
On Yuma VA Healthcare Facility
In January, Senator Gallego pressed Secretary Collins on how the VA plans to ensure that veterans in Arizona will receive the care they deserve amid the VA’s massive workforce cuts and plans to reshape the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). He followed up on that questioning this week.
“Staffing caps as put forth by your department’s reorganization would require [the VA’s Yuma facility] to acquire staff by pulling providers from other VA facilities – facilities that are already understaffed. I have yet to receive answers from you on how this will work,” said Senator Gallego. “Secretary Collins, I ask you again – can you commit today that the new Yuma VA outpatient facility will open by summer 2027 fully staffed to serve rural Arizona veterans?”
Watch the Senator’s full questioning HERE.