Former Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins was confirmed Tuesday as President Trump’s Veterans Affairs secretary after receiving near-unanimous support at the committee level.
The Senate voted 77-23 to confirm Collins, who had represented Georgia’s rural Ninth Congressional District for nearly a decade before leaving public office following an unsuccessful 2020 campaign to represent the Peach State in the upper chamber.
When accepting his nomination last November, he had vowed to “fight tirelessly to streamline and cut regulations in the VA, root out corruption, and ensure every veteran receives the benefits they’ve earned.”
Collins, an Air Force Reserve colonel and military chaplain, had also criticized the leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the last administration.
Now, he will lead the second-biggest federal agency to provide health care and other benefits to around 18 million veterans.
When announcing his pick, Trump, 78, said Collins, 58, would “be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need.”
The VA pick had cleared the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in an 18-1 vote last month, with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) expressing reservations that Collins would eliminate coverage for some abortion procedures. He told the Hawaii Democrat he was committed to “following the law” on the issue.
While in Congress, he had floated bills to cut federal funding for abortions and rose to prominence as one of eight House Republicans serving on the defense team for Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial in 2020.
Collins, who attended Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, had also assisted in legal challenges to 2020 election results as part of the 45th president’s efforts to reverse Joe Biden’s victory.
At another point, he also politely declined to consider a post as director of national intelligence during the first Trump administration.
“Congressman Collins knows firsthand the opportunities and challenges that veterans face and has committed to putting them first,” Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said after casting his vote on the panel to confirm him.
“I will hold him to his commitment to work with our committee to implement critical reforms at VA to better support our nation’s veterans and their families.”
The VA has an annual budget of around $369 billion and employs more than 370,000 workers.
