Former Trump Va Secretary: 'i Don't Know Any System That Slashes Its Way To Excellence'

Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin said Thursday he did not “know any system that slashes its way to excellence” following Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) head Doug Collins's announcement that the department is preparing to cut around 72,000 jobs.

“I do applaud the administration for taking a look at how they can make this agency work better. We cannot continue the status quo. The wait times are going up … veteran suicide is actually on the rise, we have tens of thousands of homeless veterans, so we do need to take a look at how to improve this system,” Shulkin told Brianna Keilar on “CNN News Central.”

"But I don't know any system that slashes its way to excellence," he added.

In a video statement Wednesday, Collins said while the VA worked on its “department-wide review of its organization, operations and structure,” in line with President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) workforce optimization initiative, the department was taking “a pragmatic and disciplined approach to eliminating waste and bureaucracy.”

“Our goal is to reduce VA employment levels to 2019 in strength numbers, roughly 398,000 employees, from our current level of approximately 470,000 employees,” Collins said in the video. “Now that’s a 15 percent decrease. We’re going to accomplish this without making cuts to health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries.”

Last week, the VA fired 1,400 employees as it was already facing public outcry on low transparency following 1,000 other workers being fired earlier in February.

“The VA is a terrific national resource, and it's filled with people that are there to help veterans,” Shulkin said Thursday.

"So, the one thing we don't want to do is lose the confidence in the VA," he continued.

When reached for comment, The Hill was directed by the VA to Collins’s Thursday opinion piece for The Hill titled “Secretary Collins: We owe America’s veterans real solutions.”

“There are many people complaining about the changes we are making at VA. But what most of them are really saying is ‘Keep doing the same thing VA has always done,” Collins wrote in the piece.

“Nope. The days of kicking the can down the road and measuring VA’s progress by how much money it spends and how many people it employs — rather than how many veterans it helps — are over,” he added.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in an email to The Hill on Thursday that the president “has consistently stood up for our brave men and women in uniform – delivering crucial reforms that improved VA healthcare, decreased Veteran homelessness, and enhanced education benefits.”

“His efforts to cut wasteful spending and make agencies more efficient will ensure our government can better serve all American families, especially our Veterans,” Kelly added.

An Office of Personnel Management (OPM) spokesperson said in an email to The Hill "OPM recognizes the dedication and service of all federal employees, including our veteran workforce, and remains committed to supporting them during this transition.”

“While workforce restructuring can be a difficult process, we are working to ensure affected employees have access to available resources and opportunities,” the spokesperson added.

Updated at 4:40 pm EST.