I interviewed the VA Secretary Doug Collins last night and it was pretty clear he had a message for the roughly 18 million living veterans in this country. “We're not cutting critical health care. We're not cutting health care benefits,

Patty Murray from Washington said that these layoffs included researchers who were working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Wednesday she is seeking answers about how the layoffs may have affected efforts to prevent suicide through the confidential Veterans Crisis Line.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins on Thursday defended the Trump administration’s recent layoffs at the department, arguing that cuts have not been made to “critical health