VA Secretary Collins Touts First 30 Days: $98 Million Redirected, DEI Ended, Flag Policy Changed
February 21, 2025 · U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs · 0:01:46
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said the VA is fulfilling President Trump’s vision of taking care of every veteran in the administration’s first 30 days, putting the veteran first in every decision, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs video. Collins said the department did away with DEI — ‘it’s gone’ — and that $14 million is now being spent on veterans and veteran health care and caregivers instead, as stated in his remarks.
Collins said the department also found almost $98 million that is being redirected toward health care and benefits for veterans, according to the video. On waste, fraud and abuse, he said VA employees are scouring every contract, and that the department already found $178,000 that was going to political newsletters, which will now be spent on veterans instead, as stated in his remarks.
Collins also said the VA changed its flag policy so that only the American flag and the POW flag will fly in front of VA facilities, which he described as returning to what unites those who served in uniform, according to the video. He closed by saying the VA has not let up in its first 30 days, as stated in his remarks.
Why it matters
Collins’s 30-day message sets the VA’s early benchmarks — specific redirected dollar figures and the contract review — that later VA announcements can be checked against.
Sources: U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, “VA Secretary Doug Collins Highlights Accomplishments in First 30 Days”, 2025-02-21 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-02-21). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.
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