# Department of Veterans Affairs The **Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)** is the second-largest cabinet department, serving roughly 9 million enrolled veterans through three administrations: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) — the nation's largest integrated health system, with ~1,300 facilities and a uniquely unionized clinical workforce — the Veterans Benefits Administration (disability compensation, pensions, education and home-loan benefits), and the National Cemetery Administration. Elevated to cabinet status in 1989, the VA carries unusual political weight because failing veterans is a bipartisan third rail. For the KB, the VA's defining contest is **privatization**: the long-running push to shift veterans' care from VA facilities to private providers through the Community Care program (expanded by the 2018 MISSION Act). Supporters frame this as choice and access; critics frame it as hollowing out the VA system to redirect public money to private health interests, with the unionized VHA workforce a particular target. ## Leadership (2025–) **[[Doug Collins]]** — a former Republican congressman from Georgia, [[Air Force]] Reserve chaplain, and prominent Trump defender during the first impeachment — was confirmed Secretary of Veterans Affairs on February 4, 2025, by a 77–23 vote. Collins's tenure has featured workforce reductions, expanded private "community care," and friction with veterans-service organizations over staffing and access. ## The three administrations Tracked as plain references until individual pages are built: - **Veterans Health Administration (VHA)** — the hospital and clinic system; the largest integrated health network in the U.S. - **Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)** — disability compensation, pensions, GI Bill education benefits, and VA home loans. - **National Cemetery Administration (NCA)** — the national veterans' cemeteries. ## The EHR modernization boondoggle The VA's other defining contest is the **Electronic Health Record Modernization** program — the replacement of VistA, the VA's in-house records system built over decades, with a commercial Cerner platform under a 2018 sole-source contract now owned by [[Oracle Health]]. Awarded at ~$10B over ten years, the contract was modified on August 18, 2026 to a ceiling just under $27B with completion pushed to May 2031, after only 14 of 164 medical centers had gone live and the system had been linked to thousands of patient-harm cases at its Spokane pilot. Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence put the lifecycle cost at ~$48B in September 2026 testimony; GAO reported 14 of its 18 recommendations unimplemented. [[Doug Collins]]'s decision to restart and accelerate deployments in 2025 preceded the ceiling breach. The [[House Veterans' Affairs Committee]] voted 19–0 to subpoena Oracle's [[Larry Ellison]] and [[Mike Sicilia]]. Full account: [[VA Oracle EHR Modernization Contract]]. ## The capture lens The [[Project 2025]] agenda accelerates outsourcing of care and workforce reduction. The patterns the KB tracks: - **Privatization via Community Care** — steering more veterans to private providers and expanding the share of the budget that leaves the VA system. - **Workforce cuts** — staffing reductions at a department whose unionized clinical workforce makes it a [[Schedule F]] flashpoint. - **Benefits-processing strain** — the backlog politics of disability claims amid staffing pressure. - **Facility decisions** — consolidations and closures framed as efficiency. ## See Also - [[Project 2025]] - [[Schedule F]] - [[Cabinet Departments Hub]] - [[VA Oracle EHR Modernization Contract]] · [[Oracle Health]] · [[Oracle Corporation]] - [[House Veterans' Affairs Committee]] · [[Doug Collins]] - [[Federal Agencies]]