Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins will testify before House appropriators next week after lawmakers voted to withhold funding for the agency if he didn’t, according to two people familiar with the hearing, which has yet to be officially announced.
“They were just being ornery,” Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), who chairs the VA appropriations subcommittee, said of the Trump administration in an interview Thursday afternoon.
The House plans to vote Friday to pass the annual bill that funds Collins’ department. Within that measure, lawmakers included a provision to withhold 25 percent of the department’s operating budget until Collins testifies before both chambers.
The secretary already appeared before Senate appropriators last month.
A spokesperson for the VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.