Vegas vet’s death spurs VA reform legislation

By Lisa Mascaro

Monday, May 26, 2008 | 2 a.m.

An Iraq war veteran from Las Vegas will, in death, play a role ensuring his fellow soldiers and Marines are better treated by the Veterans Affairs Department.

The House last week passed legislation named after Justin Bailey, the Las Vegas High School graduate who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and overdosed after checking himself into a VA hospital, where he was given a supply of medications to administer himself.

The bill, which the Senate has not passed, includes a provision by Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley that will require the VA to assess procedures at its mental health facilities, including oversight and distribution of prescriptions, and report back to Congress.

“I can’t undo what happened to Justin,” said Berkley, a longtime member of the Veterans Affairs Committee who had the bill renamed in his memory. “But I’m in a position to help make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

As the war in Iraq drags into its sixth year, with no clear end in sight, Congress is putting less emphasis on withdrawing the troops, aware it does not have enough support to override the veto authority of President Bush.

Instead, Congress is turning its attention to caring for the 1.6 million troops deployed since 9/11.

Congress last year provided one of the largest funding increases in the history of Veterans Affairs and rejected new fees the Bush administration wanted to charge vets for care.

Lawmakers launched additional research on and treatment of what is called the signature wound of the Iraq war — traumatic brain injuries, which typically come from combat blasts and can go unnoticed without outward scars.

Increasingly health professionals are warning of a medical crisis among vets with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. One in five service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD or major depression, according to a groundbreaking study last month from RAND Corp.

To help troops readjust to civilian life, Congress this year has turned its attention to a new GI Bill, a hugely popular piece of legislation to provide vets who served since 9/11 full resident tuition at any state school.

The bill has passed both chambers with robust majorities, but is opposed by the Pentagon, which fears soldiers and Marines will opt out of the service to go to college. President Bush is also opposed.

In voting for the bill this month, Nevada Rep. Jon Porter distanced himself from the Bush administration and his party. He was among 32 Republicans willing to impose a tax on high-wage earners to pay for the educational benefit. The “millionaire’s tax,” which is in the House version of the bill but not the Senate’s, would levy a half-percent surtax on earnings above $500,000 for singles, $1 million for couples.

Republican Rep. Dean Heller said he would support the bill if not for the tax. “This tax hike will be a jobs-killer,” Heller said in a statement, affecting “325,000 small-business owners who employ tens of millions of Americans.”

“It is time for Congress to look at reductions in spending instead of continually looking to the American public for more money,” Heller said.

Republican Sen. John Ensign voted against the bill because he worries, as the Pentagon does, about recruitment. Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, voted in favor.

Berkley voted for the bill and cannot understand the opposition.

“It is incomprehensible to me that the president of the United States would even entertain the idea of vetoing this legislation,” she said. “How easy for those of us sitting here in relative comfort and safety to deny those in harm’s way an opportunity when they return.”

Other veterans bills from Nevada lawmakers are making their way through Congress.

A Porter bill to investigate which jobs in the military are causing the most stress passed Thursday night as part of a sweeping defense bill.

Porter said military officials at Air Force bases in Nevada worry that operators in the desert here of unmanned planes flying over war zones may be suffering particular stress.

“By identifying what military occupations carry the highest burdens of stress and fatigue, often leading to mental health disorders, it will enhance our ability to provide the most appropriate resources for our troops,” Porter said in a statement.

Heller’s office notes the congressman’s bill to provide a tax deduction of up to $400 to cover travel expenses for vets living more than 25 miles from a VA facility now has 19 co-sponsors.

The Senate is also dealing with issues raised by Bailey’s death.

One bill, which Ensign has signed on to, includes a provision named for Bailey that would beef up VA services for vets suffering from PTSD and substance abuse.

Berkley started working on The Justin Bailey Substance Use Disorders Prevention and Treatment Act of 2008 after learning about the 27-year-old from his family.

The Marine infantryman was scheduled to end his tour in 2003, but got a “stop-loss” order that sent him to Iraq until 2004.

After discharge, he enrolled in a sound recording and engineering school in Los Angeles but had trouble adjusting. He told his family he needed help.

He checked himself into the VA hospital in Los Angeles late November 2006, and died two months later.

Berkley said she was particularly moved when she learned his parents were given their son’s belongings in a plastic garbage bag at the VA.

“Justin Bailey’s case is particularly egregious,” she said. “Let us demonstrate the value of our troops when they come home.”

The VA center in Washington declined to comment.

Bailey’s parents still live in Las Vegas.

His stepmother, Mary Kaye Bailey, said the family is honored to have Justin’s name on the bill and grateful that Congress is addressing their concerns about vets facing substance-abuse issues.

“We don’t think what happened to Justin just happened to Justin,” she said. “There are systemic issues in the VA and they need to be fixed.”

Justin Bailey’s father, Tony Bailey, said his son’s grandmother sent money to put flowers on his grave this Memorial Day. “I don’t think any grandma should have to do that,” Tony Bailey said. “Hopefully this bill will do some good and get through the Senate and get signed.”