{"id":25584,"date":"2024-12-19T13:22:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T18:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=25584"},"modified":"2024-12-19T13:22:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T18:22:14","slug":"readout-sen-ossoff-meets-with-congressman-doug-collins-president-elect-trumps-nominee-for-va-secretary","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/readout-sen-ossoff-meets-with-congressman-doug-collins-president-elect-trumps-nominee-for-va-secretary\/","title":{"rendered":"READOUT: Sen. Ossoff Meets with Congressman Doug Collins, President-elect Trump\u2019s Nominee for VA Secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C. \u2014<\/strong>&nbsp;U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff today met with former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, President-elect Trump\u2019s nominee to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA).<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During their meeting, Sen. Ossoff and Congressman Collins discussed ways to improve the VA to ensure Georgia veterans get the care they deserve more quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff conveyed his priorities, including reducing wait times for community care appointments, strengthening veterans\u2019 access to mental health care, and increasing transportation options for veterans in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI appreciated meeting with Congressman Collins to learn more about his plans for the VA and how he would work to improve care for Georgia\u2019s veterans,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff said.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cWe had a productive conversation about current challenges Georgia veterans face and ways we could work together to strengthen VA benefits and service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since taking office, Sen. Ossoff has worked across the aisle to help Georgia veterans access the care they\u2019ve earned, including passing bipartisan legislation into law that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/breaking-sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-law-clears-backlog-of-veterans-records-requests-at-national-archives\/\">cleared a backlog of veterans\u2019 records requests<\/a>;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.albanyherald.com\/news\/ossoff-sponsored-veterans-health-bill-set-to-become-law\/article_2dabd30a-87b4-11ed-944f-930b365b2365.html\">strengthened mental health care<\/a>&nbsp;services for veterans;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-championed-bipartisan-bill-to-strengthen-veterans-health-care-signed-into-law\/\">expanded VA health benefits<\/a>for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans; and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff has also conducted vigorous oversight of the VA to ensure Georgia veterans get timely access to care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff will continue meeting with President-elect Trump\u2019s nominees to understand how and whether their tenure can be a success for Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Unknown-1-1024x716.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Unknown-1-1024x716.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Unknown-1-300x210.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Unknown-1-768x537.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Unknown-1-18x12.jpeg 18w, https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Unknown-1.jpeg 1036w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2014&nbsp;U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff today met with former Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, President-elect Trump\u2019s nominee to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA). During their meeting, Sen. Ossoff and Congressman Collins discussed ways to improve the VA to ensure Georgia veterans get the care they deserve more quickly. Sen. Ossoff conveyed his priorities, including [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25584","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/25584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/25584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25588,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/25584\/revisions\/25588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}