U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins stressed there's no need to be worried about critical services for veterans being cut, after touring VA medical facilities in Kentucky on Friday.

The Trump administration announced it's planning to fire thousands more employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of the White House effort to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.

A memo from the Department of Veterans Affairs' chief of staff said the agency aims to return its workforce to just under 400,000 employees.

Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins served as the designated survivor during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

With members of the presidential line of succession in the Capitol for President Trump's speech to the joint session of Congress, a designated survivor will be named to stay away in case of a catastrophic event.

Doug Collins, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is reportedly serving as the designated survivor during President Donald Trump's joint congressional address on Tuesday night. The designated survivor is a person in the presidential line of succession—often a low-level Cabinet member—chosen to be kept separate from other executive branch officials when the government is all gathered in one place in the event of a catastrophic event.