Doug Collins, a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve and former Republican House lawmaker from Georgia, is nominated to be the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmation hearing for Doug Collins to be the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which was scheduled for Tuesday morning, has been delayed for a week as the FBI completes a required background check.
Collins’ hearing before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee is postponed until Jan. 21, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., chairman of the committee, said Monday afternoon.
Though Collins provided financial statements and other personal information, which is a customary part of the pre-screening process, the FBI review is not yet complete, Moran said.
“Congressman Doug Collins has submitted all his paperwork in a timely manner and has been transparent and forthcoming with the committee,” Moran said. “In accordance with long-standing practice, the committee should have an opportunity to review Congressman Collins’ FBI file before the confirmation hearing.”
The hearing is now scheduled to take place the day after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance are scheduled to be sworn into office at noon on Jan. 20.
The confirmation hearing for Collins was originally scheduled to kick off a week of more than a dozen Senate hearings for Trump’s picks for Cabinet posts. The president appoints Cabinet officials and other high-level positions with the “advice and consent” of the Senate, under Article II of the Constitution.
Other Senate confirmation hearings are on track for Tuesday. They include a hearing for Pete Hegseth as defense secretary before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Hegseth is a National Guard Army veteran and Fox TV host.
Collins is a 58-year-old Air Force Reserve colonel and military chaplain from Georgia who served as a Republican House lawmaker from 2013 to 2020. His selection has drawn little resistance from either party in Congress.
If approved by the Senate, Collins will replace VA Secretary Denis McDonough to lead a sprawling agency with a $369 billion budget and nearly 400,000 employees who provide health care, disability compensation and other benefits to 18 million veterans.
Collins became an Air Force chaplain after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He completed a deployment to Iraq in 2008 with the 94th Air Wing at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. He also served in the Navy’s chaplain corps for two years in the late 1980s.
As a congressman, Collins sponsored several pieces of legislation to improve health care at the VA.
Collins did not serve on congressional committees that deal directly with veterans issues, but he did sponsor legislation to expand their access to health care, including with non-VA doctors in the private sector.
The VA has been through a series of recent scandals that included an emergency request to Congress for billions of dollars to cover a shortfall in 2024 that did not exist and awarding bonuses to senior-level VA executives that Congress had intended as merit pay to retain frontline workers.
The VA is the second-largest agency in the federal government behind the Defense Department. The VA operates more than 1,600 health care facilities that include out-patient clinics and medical centers.
After nominating Collins to lead the VA, Trump said, “Doug will be a great advocate for our active-duty service members, veterans and military families to ensure they have the support they need.”
