2026-08-13T14:40:20.046Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
在众议院共和党人未能通过一项退伍军人医疗法案一个月后，议员们正在闭门会晤，试图让这项立法重回正轨。但有一位关键人物并未被邀请参会：退伍军人事务部部长道格·柯林斯。
据多名参与该法案起草工作的消息人士透露，柯林斯及其所在的退伍军人事务部团队近期被排除在国会山的相关会议之外，因为国会共和党高层和特朗普政府官员将7月份众议院原计划投票突然取消的责任归咎于他。
“目前他与国会山的关系已经一团糟，”一位熟悉柯林斯相关动态的人士说道。
“他们不再信任他了，”另一位了解该情况的消息人士表示。
这一事件凸显了过去几个月来柯林斯在政府中的地位持续下滑。作为总统唐纳德·特朗普的长期盟友，柯林斯在加入特朗普内阁前曾在众议院任职，但他在退伍军人医疗法案等议题上表现平平，令身边人感到困惑，这也引发了外界广泛猜测：他还能在这个职位上待多久。
一位熟悉相关动态的人士透露，至少在目前，鉴于白宫正努力在11月中期选举前尽量避免动荡，特朗普不太可能解雇柯林斯。但特朗普政府官员已越来越多地审查柯林斯的履职表现，包括跟踪他的出行情况，核查他在部门核心优先事项中的参与程度。这位人士补充道，柯林斯职权的缩减引发了人们的猜测，他可能很快就会主动离任。
重启这项名为“照顾美国退伍军人法案”的立法也被视为中期选举的关键举措。该法案将为数万名退伍军人扩大福利保障——这是国会许多共和党议员的核心选民群体——而法案的通过将被视为11月投票前一次重要的立法胜利。
退伍军人事务部在发给CNN的一封电子邮件中否认柯林斯曾阻挠法案通过。退伍军人事务部新闻发言人奎因·斯莱文表示：“特朗普政府、柯林斯部长以及退伍军人事务部整体上都支持这项法案。虽然我们认为它可以通过一些修正案得到完善，但其中包含了本届政府的多项优先议题。”
斯莱文补充道：“在特朗普总统的领导下，柯林斯部长每天都为让退伍军人事务部的福利比以往任何时候都更好、更快、更易用而努力，对此他深感自豪。”
白宫并未就柯林斯在共和党推进退伍军人医疗法案过程中所扮演的角色置评。
在一份声明中，白宫发言人奥利维亚·威尔士表示，退伍军人事务部部长“工作出色，不知疲倦地为我们英勇的退伍军人争取权益”。另一位白宫官员淡化了外界对柯林斯出行的关注，称内阁官员外出访问是为了“突出本届政府的成就”。
白宫还转发了共和党议员杰克·伯格曼的支持声明。伯格曼是众议院退伍军人事务委员会成员，他坚称柯林斯“合作起来非常棒”，并且“在我们向他提出涉及退伍军人的棘手问题时，他会采取行动”。
这项退伍军人医疗法案将削减部分患有耳鸣和睡眠呼吸暂停综合征的退伍军人未来的数十亿美元伤残福利。通过这些削减节省下来的资金，将用于推行另一项措施，允许退伍军人同时领取退休福利和作战受伤相关福利。目前退伍军人只能二者择其一，无法同时领取。
该法案还旨在改善退伍军人获得私营部门医疗服务的渠道，努力缩短医疗等待时间，并为已故退伍军人的配偶提供福利保障，即使他们再婚。
民主党人反对这项法案，包括美国海外战争退伍军人协会、美国伤残退伍军人协会以及伊拉克和阿富汗战争退伍军人协会在内的一些退伍军人服务组织也持反对态度，他们称不同意通过削减部分退伍军人的福利来为其他福利项目买单。
包括美国军团和美国关切退伍军人协会在内的其他退伍军人倡导团体则支持该法案，称该法案将为约9万名在退伍军人事务部登记的退伍军人及其家属带来多方面的福利扩面。
众议院原定于对该法案进行投票，随后便休会进入夏季休会期。但消息人士称，众议院共和党人仍在继续讨论该法案——但并未邀请柯林斯参与。
两位熟悉相关互动情况的消息人士透露，柯林斯最初曾向共和党国会领导层表示支持该法案，但后来开始暗中阻挠。
他们表示，柯林斯会向一些议员暗示自己并未完全支持该法案，还告诉一些共和党议员，他与他们一样对这项立法存在担忧。柯林斯与白宫和国会共和党人之间的紧张关系最早由《政治报》报道。
该法案旨在实现的部分内容曾在拜登政府执政期间通过规则制定程序提出。但退伍军人事务部新闻发言人在6月告诉网站《政府行政》，该提案“需要进行重大修改”——这进一步让国会山工作人员对柯林斯在该议题上的立场感到困惑。
消息人士称，对柯林斯立场的困惑一直持续到7月中旬，当时越来越多的众议院共和党人开始动摇对法案的支持。消息人士透露，当法案被撤回时，白宫官员、众议院共和党议员及其幕僚都对柯林斯感到愤怒。
“我从未见过他们如此愤怒，”一位消息人士在谈及部分众议院共和党人时说道，“他们的怒火已经爆表。”
消息人士称，共和党高层曾向白宫抱怨柯林斯和退伍军人事务部负责国会与立法事务的助理部长唐·伯金对该法案的处理方式——并且这些共和党人不再认为柯林斯和伯金是可以信赖的中间人。
一位消息人士表示，在柯林斯处理了这项被总统和本届政府列为优先事项的立法后，“他们无法理解，也搞不懂他心里到底在想什么”。
在这场风波期间，柯林斯在福克斯商业频道上称赞了特朗普。“他为国家提供了领导力，告诉大家‘嘿，我们要把美国放在首位，我们要把退伍军人放在首位’，”柯林斯说道。
‘They don’t trust him anymore’: How VA Secretary Doug Collins drew the ire of the White House and Republicans
2026-08-13T14:40:20.046Z / CNN
A month after House Republicans failed to pass a veterans health bill, lawmakers are meeting behind closed doors to try to get the legislation back on track. But there’s one key person they haven’t invited to the table: Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.
Collins and his team at the VA have been excluded from recent meetings on Capitol Hill because some senior congressional Republicans and Trump officials blamed him when the planned House vote was abruptly abandoned in July, according to multiple sources who were involved in crafting the legislation.
“His relationship with the Hill directly is garbage at this point,” said one person familiar with the dynamics surrounding Collins.
“They don’t trust him anymore,” another source familiar with the situation said.
The episode underscores how Collins’ standing in the administration has steadily deteriorated over the past several months. A longtime ally of President Donald Trump who previously served in the House before joining Trump’s Cabinet, Collins has confounded those around him with his lackluster engagement on issues like the veterans health bill, spurring widespread speculation over how much longer he’ll remain in the job.
Trump is unlikely to fire Collins, at least for now, amid efforts in the White House to minimize upheaval ahead of November’s midterm elections. But Trump officials have increasingly scrutinized Collins’ performance, including tracking his travel and examining the extent of his involvement in key departmental priorities, said the person familiar with the dynamics. Collins’ receding role has prompted speculation he may soon leave the administration of his own accord, the person added.
Resurrecting the legislation, called the “Take Care of America’s Veterans Act,” is also considered key to the midterms. The bill would expand benefits for tens of thousands of veterans – a key constituency for many Republicans in Congress – and passage would be viewed as an important legislative win ahead of the November vote.
The VA, in an email to CNN, denied that Collins worked against the bill’s passage. VA press secretary Quinn Slaven said: “The Trump administration, Secretary Collins and VA broadly support this bill, and while we believe it could benefit from some amendments, it contains many priorities of the administration.”
Slaven added: “Under the leadership of President Trump, Secretary Collins is proud to work every day to make VA benefits better, faster and easier to use than ever before.”
The White House did not address Collins’ role in GOP efforts to advance the veterans health bill.
In a statement, spokeswoman Olivia Wales said that the VA secretary “is doing a great job and works tirelessly to deliver for our heroic veterans.” Another White House official downplayed the focus on Collins’ travel, contending that Cabinet officials are encouraged to be on the road to “highlight the administration’s accomplishments.”
The White House also forwarded a statement of support from GOP Rep. Jack Bergman, who sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee and insisted that Collins “has been great to work with” and has “taken action when we bring him difficult issues involving Veterans.”
The veterans health bill would cut billions of dollars in future disability benefits to some veterans suffering from tinnitus and sleep apnea. The money saved from those cuts would pay for another measure that would allow veterans to receive both their retirement benefits and combat injury-related benefits. Veterans are currently allowed to receive one, but not both, of those benefits.
The bill is also aimed at improving access to private sector care, working to cut down wait times for care and providing benefits for the spouses of deceased veterans, even if they re-marry.
Democrats oppose the bill, along with some veterans service organizations including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, saying they disagree with the idea of taking away some veterans’ benefits to pay for other benefits.
Other veterans’ advocacy groups like The American Legion and Concerned Veterans for America are in favor of the bill, pointing to all the ways they say it would expand benefits for many of the roughly 9 million veterans enrolled with the VA as well as their families.
The House adjourned for summer recess not long after the legislation was pulled from the House floor ahead of a scheduled vote. But sources say House Republicans are continuing discussions about the bill – without input from Collins.
The VA secretary had initially indicated to Republican congressional leadership that he supported the measure, but then started to subtly work against it, according to two sources familiar with the interactions.
They said he would signal to some lawmakers he wasn’t entirely behind the bill, telling some GOP members he shared their concerns about the legislation. The tension between Collins and the White House and congressional Republicans was first reported by Politico.
Some of what the legislation aims to accomplish had been proposed during the Biden administration, through the rulemaking process. But a VA press secretary told the website Government Executive in June that that proposal “would need to undergo significant changes” – further baffling Hill staffers about where Collins stood on the issue.
Confusion over Collins’ stance continued into mid-July, sources say, at which point too many House Republicans started to waver in their support. When the bill was pulled, White House officials and Republican House members and staffers grew angry with Collins, the sources said.
“I’ve never seen them so mad,” one source said of some House Republicans. “Their anger was off the charts.”
Sources say senior Republicans complained to the White House about how Collins and Don Bergin, the VA’s assistant secretary for congressional and legislative affairs, dealt with the bill – and that those Republicans do not view Collins and Bergin as honest brokers moving forward.
After Collins’ handling of the legislation that the president and administration have prioritized, one of the sources said: “They can’t decipher or figure out what’s going on in his mind.”
In the midst of the fallout, Collins praised Trump on Fox Business. “He is providing the leadership over the country to say ‘Hey we want to put America first. We want to put our veterans first,’” Collins said.