{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://titus.house.gov//in-the-news/as-congress-debates-va-reform-rep-dina-titus-spends-long-nights-in-committee-hearings", "As Congress debates VA reform, Rep. Dina Titus spends long nights in committee hearings", "2014-07-29", "2014", "2014-07", "Democrat", "House", "NV", "Dina Titus", "T000468", "titus.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "July 29, 2014\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Allegations of shoddy treatment and subsequent cover-ups at veterans hospitals in Phoenix and beyond captivated Congress for a week or two this summer before fading from public interest.\nBut the story stayed at the forefront of one Nevada lawmaker\u2019s agenda even as it disappeared from the headlines.\nRep. Dina Titus, a Las Vegas Democrat, sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. After the scandal made national news this June, the panel\u2019s chairman, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., ramped up the committee\u2019s actions, from once-a-week hearings on various veterans issues to twice-weekly marathon sessions focused on the scandal\u2019s fallout.\nFor Titus, that\u2019s meant an entire summer of late-night hearings, often stretching to 1 a.m., and hours of extra work. But she doesn\u2019t mind the Republican initiative. She says she\u2019s used the extra meetings to make life better for Nevada\u2019s veterans.\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just for show on the committee,\u201d she said. \u201cWe follow up, and we\u2019ve seen the results of it.\u201d\nLate, \u201ceerie\u201d nights in the Capitol\nIn a series of about 10 hearings in seven weeks, lawmakers have heard from top VA officials, including its acting chief, on problems ranging from bureaucratic mismanagement in VA hospitals, to scrutinizing how the VA gives bonuses, to assessing how to protect whistleblowers in the agency.\nThe hearings often start Monday evenings after the House of Representatives holds votes. Titus flies in from Las Vegas on Monday afternoon, heads to the House floor to vote and then at 7:30 p.m. crosses the street from the Capitol to the hearing room, where she\u2019ll sit for three, four, five hours at a time.\n\u201cYou don\u2019t eat dinner,\u201d she said. \u201cYou try to get a Snickers bar so you don\u2019t turn into a diva.\u201d\nThe hearings often run so late that she and an aide were once locked out of their office because the guards had gone home.\n\u201cIt\u2019s eerie,\u201d she said.\nTuesday morning the rest of Congress swings into action. Later in the week, Titus repeats the process all over again with a second Veterans Affairs hearing (this time during normal business hours).\nDrawing attention to Nevada\u2019s veterans\nUnlike other House committees, the Veterans Affairs Committee isn\u2019t known for its partisan reputation. But these recent hearings have been charged with tension and urgency.\nPlaying out in the background is a bill Congress hopes to pass by the end of this week to reform VA hospitals. Lawmakers announced a deal Monday, which Congress will try to approve before closing Friday for a five-week break. Titus sent a letter last week to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, requesting Congress stay in session until they pass the legislation.\nThe Senate is also expected this week to confirm Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald as the next VA chief after the last stepped down amid the scandal.\nWith all of that in mind, each lawmaker gets about 10 minutes to ask witnesses questions during the hearings.\nTitus often asks about Nevada-specific issues. She\u2019s asked VA officials to paint a clearer picture of how the agency\u2019s Reno office serves Las Vegas veterans, and she\u2019s called attention to claims backlogs for Nevada veterans, who have some of the nation\u2019s longest wait times.\nShe and her staff also hold meetings behind the scenes with top VA officials to follow up on questions that come up at the hearings.\n\u201cThe more you hear, the more you realize you don\u2019t know,\u201d she said.\nSeeing results\nThe hearings may have only scratched the surface of the VA\u2019s problems, but Titus said she\u2019s happy with how they have helped Nevada\u2019s veterans.\nThe troubled Reno office is in the process of a leadership change thanks in part to her and Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.\u2019s, efforts.\nAnd three of her proposed bills were included in the bipartisan VA reform legislation announced Monday: To add medical residency positions at VA hospitals, to extend sexual trauma counseling for National Guard and other reserve members and to expand a portion of the GI bill to surviving spouses.\n\u201cI definitely think it\u2019s worth it,\u201d she said.\nMaybe Congress should work twice as hard all the time.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://titus.house.gov//in-the-news/as-congress-debates-va-reform-rep-dina-titus-spends-long-nights-in-committee-hearings"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0694717057049274, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}