Heller, other senators announce bill to improve VA care

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Dean Heller on Thursday joined other lawmakers to announce sweeping legislation to allow the Veterans Affairs Department to fire “bad actors,” bar bonuses for those accused of wrongdoing and fix a 2-year-old law to improve care for those who have served their country in uniform.

At a hastily arranged news conference, Heller, R-Nev., said his legislation to address a backlog of claims for veterans with disabilities was rolled into the new Veterans First Act.

He also shared details of a phone call he had received from a veteran’s wife.

“She talked about how difficult it was and all the hoops that she had to jump through in order to get her husband a cardiology appointment,” Heller said. “She talked about the three months of phone calls, voice messages and all the hoops and runaround that she got with the Choice program. This is a shocking story, but it is a common story.”

Noting the 300,000 veterans in Nevada, Heller said he constantly hears such stories at his regular sessions with veterans.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the panel’s ranking Democrat, took the lead in announcing the bipartisan agreement that led to the introduction of the Veterans First Act.

“When people look back at what Congress accomplished this year, the Veterans First Act will be at the top of the list,” Isakson said. “The numerous scandals at the VA and the outrageous examples of employee mismanagement and misconduct have got to stop. Our veterans deserve much better than this.”

Blumenthal said, “Accountability is vital to deter and discipline failure to deliver services that veterans need and deserve. As important as accountability are the sweeping and significant new services and programs provided to veterans of the post-9/11 era and earlier.”

Asked why such a bill was needed only two years after the earlier bill became law, both men said the current law needed fixing.

Blumenthal compared the process to fixing an airplane while still in the air.

“This may not be the last word,” he said.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, welcomed the announcement.

“The proposal includes my bill to extend the timeframe for the VA to invest in the Graduate Medical Education program, which is critical as our hospital in North Las Vegas continues to grow,” Titus said.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla,, chairman of the House committee, called the Senate bill a positive development.

“If what Sens. Isakson and Blumenthal are working on passes them Senate, I look forward to immediately engaging in conference committee negotiations in order to move a VA reform package to the president’s desk,” Miller said.

The bipartisan announcement of the Senate bill comes as the embattled federal agency has continued to respond to negative coverage.

In recent years, veterans’ complaints about the agency’s services or benefits prompted inspector general inquries that included VA facilities in Nevada.

One investigation was prompted by the case of Sandi Niccum, a 78-year-old blind Navy veteran who was suffering from a painful stomach ailment. She waited five hours to see a doctor on Oct. 22, 2013.

Auditors found Niccum was not rechecked periodically during her wait at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center’s emergency department as required by hospital procedure.

Meanwhile, an inspector general’s report April 14 found the VA Reno Veterans Benefits Administration Office inappropriately put claims-related documents in shred bins, affecting burial expenses for one veteran’s family in 2013.

The inspector general’s staff also found three medical documents were destined to be shredded without proper signatures.

Contact Jim Myers at jmyers@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @myers_dc.