{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1307", "Bergman Fights for Transparency for Michigan Veterans", "2024-09-11", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Jack Bergman", "B001301", "bergman.house.gov", "bergman", "https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Yesterday, Representative Bergman emphasized the need for transparency from the Biden Administration during a House Veteran Affairs Committee hearing. Recently, the Biden Administration\u2019s VA has been partnering with Democrat voting areas in Michigan in an alleged push to register more Veterans to vote. However, as Rep. Bergman noted, the process has been rife with suspicious activity.\n\nRead Rep. Bergman\u2019s remarks below or watch the full video of his statement here.\n\n\u201cI wholeheartedly support efforts to improve voter registration and participation, especially among our Veterans. As I tell many of the constituents I meet with \u2013 I don\u2019t care who you vote for, as long as you vote.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m proud to represent the district that had the highest voter turnout last election, with nearly 390,000 voters showing up to the polls in 2022. However, when federal dollars and employees are involved in voter registration, full transparency is an absolute necessity. And much of VA\u2019s implementation of Executive Order 14019 has raised red flags to those of us on the committee.\n\n\u201cThis VA voter registry program is seemingly focusing entirely on a key swing state, with sites exclusively placed in heavily Democrat voting areas, and administered in cooperation with a Michigan Secretary of State that has been vocally opposed to one of the presidential candidates.\n\n\u201cAny appearance of potential political bias must be thoroughly examined and explained so we can be certain that public resources are not being used for partisan gain.\n\n\u201cThere are several critical questions that remain unanswered despite the committee\u2019s work and requests for information so far:\n\n\u00b7 Why was Michigan the only state selected for this program?\n\n\u00b7 Why have VA voter registry sites only been rolled out in Detroit and Saginaw, and not in facilities like Iron Mountain?\n\n\u00b7 How are VA employees being trained and communicating with voters?\n\n\u00b7 And just as importantly \u2013 are these new operations at all hindering VA\u2019s ability to deliver care to Michigan\u2019s Veterans?\n\n\u201cThe documents being subpoenaed today are critical to answering those questions. I\u2019d also like to point out that this step would not be necessary if VA or the Michigan Secretary of State had been forthright in their responses to committee.\n\n\u201cPut simply: if there is no cause for concern, then show us. Michiganders and the American people deserve certainty, which can only be done with transparency from VA.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "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": ["https://bergman.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1307"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1085099540650845, "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"}