U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ).

                Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), former Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, met with U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Doug Collins, where he thanked him for the Trump Administration’s historic commitment to improving Veterans’ quality of life and care, reducing Veteran homelessness, and speeding up the processing of VA benefits and claims.

                “Secretary Collins has been doing an extraordinary job as the new head of the VA,” said Smith, the author of 14 enacted laws to assist Veterans, including the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act (PL 107-95) (HR 2716).

                “Under Secretary Collins’ and President Trump’s leadership, the VA has made ending Veteran homelessness a priority—in fact, in FY25 alone, the VA permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans. This achievement was made possible in-part through partnerships with vital charitable organizations like Soldier On, which serves many Veterans in my congressional district,” he continued.

                “The VA has already made significant improvements to the quality of their facilities, the speed of their paperwork processing, and the reallocation of federal funds towards critical health initiatives, and I look forward to seeing the heights to which the VA will soar over the course of President Trump’s and Secretary Collins’ tenures.”

                Since President Trump has taken office in January of 2025, the VA has: 

• Reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 62%;
• Eliminated the backlog of Veteran families waiting for VA health care;
• Processed more than three million VA disability claims;
• Opened 25 new VA health care clinics throughout the U.S.;
• Offered Veterans more than 1.9 million appointments outside of normal operating hours;
• Launched a reorganization of the Veterans Health Administration management structure;
• Requested proposals for new community care contracts;
• Increased the expenditure cap for in-home and community-based services for Veterans with certain complex medical conditions;
• Accelerated the deployment of its integrated electronic health record system;
• Permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY25;
• Made it easier and faster for VA-enrolled Veterans to access care from non-VA providers at the department’s expense;
• Partnered with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to identify and recover $106 million in duplicate billing; and
• Ended DEI and treatment for gender dysphoria at the department, reversing the divisive Biden-era policies and stopping more than $14 million in DEI spending.

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