Alexandra Gehrke, 39, and Jeffrey King, 46, admitted to running medical companies from 2022 to 2024 that submitted more than $1.2 billion in false claims to Medicare and insurance programs that cover active-duty service members, disabled veterans and their families.

Collins, 58, has pledged to protect veterans benefits from potential funding cuts and expressed support for expanding access to medical care outside the VA system.

Political appointees, senior executives and non-union employees living within 50 miles of their workplaces are ordered to end remote work arrangements and return to the office by Feb. 24.

Seventy-four years after her brother shipped off to boot camp, Holland said she had given up hope that her brother would ever come home. But the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in August identified her brother’s remains using DNA that Holland had provided and she was able to bring him to Texas for burial.

Both will be replaced with new leaders, the VA said, describing their terminations as routine for an incoming administration and unrelated to an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

The Veterans Health Care Freedom Act would make it easier for veterans to obtain medical services from doctors in private practice by removing eligibility requirements for non-VA care. About 40% of veterans care is now provided outside the VA and demand is rising every year.

VA programs and operations will continue uninterrupted, the VA said. Officials at the agency determined all 44 of its federal financial assistance programs are unaffected.

Democrats also condemned a separate plan by the Trump administration to freeze federal grants and loans. Direct aid to individuals is not supposed to be affected, but some programs that assist veterans could lose federal funds because the dollars are funneled through the states and passed on to community nonprofits, critics say.

A lack of consistent policies and protocols by the Department of Veterans Affairs for administering private-sector health care for veterans is leading to medical records not being transferred, denials for appointments and a lack of understanding about reimbursements for clinicians who are not part of the VA system.

Michael Missal, inspector general at the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2016, was one of more than a dozen inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump.