Amid concerns about the stability of the agency, records show nearly 40% of the doctors offered jobs at the VA from January through March of this year turned them down — quadruple the rate of rejections for the same period a year earlier.

During his January confirmation hearing, Collins tried his best to shroud his objectives, lulling skeptical committee members with reassuring-sounding platitudes, such as “there’ll always be a VA for the veteran.” He has continued to spread these unconvincing assertions as VA secretary in interviews, press releases, Twitter videos, and congressional hearings, while, at the same time, swiftly advancing proposals to deeply cut VA resources and personnel and redirect the so-called “savings” toward expanded outsourcing to private-sector care.

Losing 30,000 VA staff will decimate VA’s ability to deliver quality healthcare and benefits. Veterans will suffer. And this is just one step in the plan laid out in Project 2025, to demonize, downsize, and privatize Veterans care.