WATCH: VA Secretary Collins testifies on 2026 White House budget request

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins testified Thursday on his department’s 2026 budget plan.

Watch Collins’ testimony before the House Veterans Affairs Committee in our player above.

Collins also appeared before the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning.

Watch below.

WATCH: Secretary Collins testifies in Senate hearing on the future of the VA

Collins pushed back Thursday against assertions that personnel cuts earlier in the year led to a critical veterans hotline going unanswered.

Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schutlz, D-Fla., and Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., both raised concerns about reports that a hotline for veterans in crisis had gone unanswered earlier this year as employees were laid off or put on probationary status as part of a broader federal government effort to reduce the workforce.

“There was no one who was answering the phone that was fired. No one,” Collins said.

“The ones that were laid off in the probationary were staff members or behind-the-scenes supervisors that were not answering the phones. I would not agree with the assertion that was made earlier that there were lines that were not going, no matter who may have told the ranking member or anybody else,” he added. “We looked into this and put them back in order. That’s how we actually take care of this. No one was put in jeopardy. No one was not answering the phone. Those continue 24/7, 365.”

“But the calls were not answered,” Bishop said. “They were answered,” Collins countered.

Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., asked Collins whether he would commit to supporting whistleblowers and people who report sexual harassment.

Franklin said in the last Congress, he saw cases where alleged perpetrators would retire or transfer before an investigation could happen.

“In many cases, these people would leave the VA only to go to another government job in another agency,” Franklin said. “Can you give us a commitment that when people do come forward and they’re courageous enough that we’re going to root out the evildoers and get rid of them?”

Collins responded that that’s one of his “primary concerns.”

“If you hurt a veteran and you’re working for the VA, you will not work for the VA. That is my commitment,” he said.

Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., asked Collins about how he’ll work to prevent veteran suicide.

Collins said that veteran suicide rates have remained relatively unchanged since 2008 and he’s trying a new outreach strategy to encourage veterans to contact the VA.

Many veterans who die by suicide have never had contact with the VA, Collins said.

“That’s why I’m going on podcasts. That’s why we’re going to any place we can. I’m going to interviews, I’m going everywhere I can to encourage our veterans, please, please, please reach out,” Collins said. “If that’s with VA, great, but I’m also encouraging all of our veterans to have the resources to take care of their airmen, take care of their battle buddies, take care of their wingmen because we can’t afford to lose one.”

President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget request so far includes a 4 percent increase for Department of Veterans Affairs programs, some of which would be directed toward overhauling the agency’s electronic health record system.

The VA, which is the largest employer of federal workers, has also been a target for significant staffing cuts. On Saturday, a California judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce.