A new task force targeting anti-Christian bias at the Department of Veterans Affairs was established after some VA facilities restricted sermon content and an Army Reserve chaplain was removed from duty for preaching about biblical text against homosexuality, the VA said.

More than a dozen nonprofit agencies that assist ALS patients and support research sent a letter this week to the 43 members of the bipartisan ALS Congressional Caucus after a leaked proposed budget memo from the Health and Human Services Department called for defunding the registry and a biorepository with thousands of lab specimens.

Collins is scheduled to testify at a May 7 hearing of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee about the agency’s spending plan for fiscal 2026. He also will share his goals for the agency for the next four years and is expected to discuss the VA’s plans to lay off up to 83,000 employees by August.

The task force will collect reports from employees on actions and activities that are deemed “hostile” to Christian views and values, according to an internal memo that VA Secretary Doug Collins, a pastor and Air Force Reserve chaplain, sent to employees.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments involving a medically retired Marine Corps veteran who did not receive his full combat-related special compensation after his military service that included two tours in Iraq.

Veterans advocacy groups are urging lawmakers to adopt legislation to address complaints about barriers to care for the most physically vulnerable patients — veterans incapacitated by catastrophic injuries and illness. 

The bills range from establishing studies on exposure to liver flukes in Vietnam veterans later diagnosed with bile duct cancer to prioritizing the delivery of survivors’ benefits for family members of deceased veterans.

The program has purchased more than 17,000 delinquent loans valued at nearly $5.5 billion since launching in May 2024. But Community Home Lenders of America estimated there are thousands of additional veterans with delinquent loans who might still qualify and benefit from the program.

Senior executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs would be banned from ever again taking bonuses that Congress established for rank-and-file workers — including police, housekeepers and claims processors — under legislation adopted by the Senate.

Veterans groups urged the Department of Veterans Affairs to take steps to end common mistakes in claims reviews for disability that include redundant requests more medical exams when the clinical diagnoses already are in veterans’ records.