WATCH: VA secretary denies reports that veterans’ hotline went unanswered

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins pushed back Thursday against assertions that personnel cuts earlier in the year led to a critical veterans hotline going unanswered.

In a House Appropriations subcommittee meeting on the department's proposed budget, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schutlz, D-Fla., and Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., both raised concerns about reports that a hotline for veterans in crisis had gone unanswered earlier this year as employees were laid off or put on probationary status as part of a broader federal government effort to reduce the workforce.

"There was no one who was answering the phone that was fired. No one,” Collins said.

“The ones that were laid off in the probationary were staff members or behind-the-scenes supervisors that were not answering the phones. I would not agree with the assertion that was made earlier that there were lines that were not going, no matter who may have told the ranking member or anybody else," he added. "

We looked into this and put them back in order. That's how we actually take care of this. No one was put in jeopardy. No one was not answering the phone. Those continue 24/7, 365.”

"But the calls were not answered," Bishop said.

"They were answered," Collins countered.

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