Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Titus-sponsored bill on military counseling sails through House

Nevada Legislative Session 2013

Cathleen Allison / AP

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., speaks to a joint session of the Nevada Legislature in Carson City on Thursday, April 4, 2013.

A bill proposed by Rep. Dina Titus to extend sexual trauma counseling services for National Guard and other reserve members passed the House of Representatives today.

“The bill before you is bipartisan legislation which addresses an unacceptable gap in the current law that effectively leaves some victims of military sexual assault without the support and treatment they did,” said the Nevada Democrat, who represents Las Vegas.

The military currently does not provide reserve members with counseling services for sexual trauma they may have experienced while on mandated training missions.

Titus co-authored the bill with Rep. Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican and chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee on which Titus sits.

Titus and Miller introduced the bill in June 2013. Its chances in the Senate remain unclear.

The bill was passed amid a growing scandal of mistreatment of veterans at an Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital.

The VA’s inspector general released a damning report today that indicated veterans there waited on average 115 days to see a doctor but staff at the hospital forged the books to show shorter wait times.

The report claimed the problem was likely systemic. Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation decried the findings but stopped short of calling for VA chief Eric Shinseki’s resignation.

“Our veterans deserve a thorough investigation, not rash decisions,” Titus said in a statement to the Washington Post.

Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., who represents Henderson, also chimed in. A veteran and active Army reservist, Heck said in a statement “wrongs done at VA will only be made right if Shinseki … commits to bringing about meaningful change.”

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